Major Progress on the New Room

Okay, so here are some before shots we took in April I think. This is the hole in the wall we climbed through to work on the new room and pictures of the attic before we put in the floor etc.

Yes, that is sweat. I know, gross, but he has worked soooo hard on this.
This picture was taken in the garage of the new floor we put in for the room. This was a huge step for us... a lot of work!
This picture was taken yesterday. Doesn't it look awesome!!!! It is finally looking like a room and it is so exciting for us.

Here is the new wall Trevor built. It was a little scary cutting down all of the support beams but the new walls seem to support the roof well. The room is about 15ft x 12ft and it will be about 9ft tall at the peak with the drywall up.

Finally a door instead of a hole in the wall. Now it actually feels like it is a part of our house.
Doesn't that door look like it's been there all along! I just look at it and smile.
Last night we were trying to come up with some names for our new room... because every room needs a name right?!
Here were some of the suggestions:
-Living Room 2
-The Coolest Room Ever
- The Room that Daddy Built
-If You Give A Dad a Toolbox

*Can I just say I married such a talented man! He amazes me with is ability to figure things out and to work so hard! Honestly, he has a crazy work schedule then he comes home and plays with the kids and works on the house. I feel so thankful to have such a great husband. He blesses all of our lives in so many ways, this room is just another one of those ways.
Thanks Trev!

Keeping it in a safe place

I was getting some crushed ice out of our refrigerator when all of the sudden there were brown chunks of stuff coming out with the ice... gross!

I didn't know what it was so I emptied the cup and filled it up again but this time there was a big brown square... and then instantly I remembered where I hid my chocolate bar from the kids.

Need a reason to smile? You can borrow mine.

Happy Mother's Day Mom

This is my mom... Okay, one sentence and I'm already teary-eyed.


Of course I didn't realize it as a kid but now as an adult, and especially as mother, I look back on my childhood and I am so grateful for my mothers wisdom.


Just a few of the lessons I am most grateful for:


- My mom often would share "spiritual experiences" or prompting she would receive with us when we were just kids. I remember many times growing up my mom would tell me about how she was at the store, or in the car, or cleaning the house, and the spirit prompted her about something. I remember thinking that my mom must have been really special for the Lord to talk to her so much. As I've grown I've found that it is easier for me to recognize the Lord's hand in my life because of my mothers example. I learned from her at a very young age that He is very much a part of our everyday life. What peace and purpose that brings to me today.

- I remember as a teenager I would hear adults talking about how hard it was to talk to their teenagers and how they were always fighting with them and I just didn't understand it. My mom and I got along great during my teenage years. I felt like I could talk to her and I was excited to tell her about my dates and other "teenager stuff". I think about that now and wonder how she did that!
I just hope my kids feel the same way with me when they at are going through their pivotal teenage years.

- My mom taught me by example about humility. I can't tell you how many times I would walk past my mother's room and find her on her knees in prayer. It also wasn't uncommon when we had a disagreement to find my mother a few minutes later sitting on the end of my bed and apologizing for what she had said. It was good for me to see that she wasn't perfect- and just like me- made mistakes but was trying to do better.

- My mom made our home a safe haven from the world. There was peace and love in our home and as a teenager my friends were drawn to our home. It's like they felt it too. I hope that I can create that kind of a home with my children where they will long for the comfort and the peace of home.

Trevor has mentioned several times since we've moved away how he misses being in my parents home. That good feeling is still there.

I could go on and on...


I wish I could be there with you today mom but since I can't I just want you to know how much I love you and how grateful I am for the woman you are. I just hope and pray that I can be the kind of mother to my kids that you were and still are to me. I'm so blessed to call you my mother.


HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

Natural Bridge State Park 2008

We spent a few days at Natural Bridge State Park. The hike was the best part. The kids loved it. Meg biffed it on the way back...so we all cried the whole time back. For some reason the tics loved Megan. We pulled 3 off of her head. I had three but not all were attached, Kathryn had 2 crawling on her (she did not like this), and Tink had 6 suckers on her. I am not sure if Hallie or Cam had any. It was a lot like a cross between Southern Utah (my favorite place) and a jungle. It was really cool. Anyway...her are some pictures of our trip. Oh, the black food is our dinner. Hallie's face said it all. Finally, quote from the trip "Mommy says she knows everything...how could she know everything?" dad says "I know everything." Megan says "No you don't." It is true I don't...I was just testing them. They passed. I guess.

Side Note by Kathryn
More like Lyme Disease State Park! I don't love bugs but I draw the line at bugs that can give you a fatal disease! Oh, and the blackened dinner- I looked up several web sites before the trip to find out how to make yummy tinfoil dinners, obviously they didn't know what they were talking about (either that or we cooked it too long ;0 whoops). But Trevor is right about the hike to the natural bridge, it was AMAZING! It almost made up for the plague of ticks.

A letter from Heaven

We got this letter in the mail on Sunday.

Surprised? So were we!!! (okay, not about the letter, I'll be honest, the letter wasn't actually from heaven).

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After thinking I was coming down with the stomach flu for 4+ days it finally occurred to me that I could be pregnant and sure enough I was like 7 weeks along! I'm about 10 weeks now and due in November.

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I'm still adjusting to the idea but I feel this is the Lord's timing and I believe He knows best so ready or not!

-

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The coolest part is my sister is pregnant with her first and due the day after me! How fun to go through pregnancy together and have cousins so close in age.

Just Clowning Around

The girls got these noses at a recent birthday party and had lot's of fun being clowns... that is until Campbell grabbed them and tore them into pieces... baby brothers are so fun!

Tornadoes and Earthquakes- Welcome to Kentucky!

It was 5:30am when I found myself waking from a very deep sleep and sitting straight up in bed. It took me a second to realize that my bed... my whole house was shaking! I was totally disoriented so I looked out the window wondering if it was really windy or if we were experiencing more tornadoes but it was calm outside. The shaking stopped and I waited for my house to quit squeaking and everything to stop swaying back and forth and then decided to go back to sleep (well, first I just laid in bed and thought about all of the things I'm missing in my food storage, moments like these are good motivators). I found out this morning we had experienced a 5.2 magnitude earthquake! Crazy! We had tornadoes in February and now an earthquake- where the heck do we live?

P.S. Trevor called after the earthquake to make sure the flat screen was okay.

"Yes dear, the TV is fine ... and so am I and your 3 children."

Camping...Priceless

I had a chance to take the girls camping last week. It was a short trip, but it was such a great experience. I do not know if it was just being able to spend time with the kids or the memories of being together camping as a kid, but it was very meaningful to me. It was so fun and was a beautiful area.

When we found this turtle, Miss Shelly Sandy Tortoise Grubbs, Hallie said it was a blessing that my bike tire popped or we would not have seen the turtle.

I hope we don't kill this little turtle, but it has already been a blessing to us. It has been so much fun to have a new pet.

We don't even have to let it out at night.

Camping with Dad- Surprise for Mom

Trevor found out yesterday that he got today off so he took the girls camping last night. They had a great trip and came home with a new friend.

Oh HAPPY Day!!!

Campbell was about 2 weeks old when we knew something was really wrong. He was so fussy and appeared to be in pain a lot. He would grunt and groan and cry most the day and night. Then one day I was changing a dirty diaper and noticed blood. That's when we realized he had a dairy protein allergy and I (I was nursing him) had to go off of ALL dairy. If I so much as ate one chocolate chip Campbell would get sick. It was hard and I never believed I could do it but I nursed him dairy-free for 8 months.

Sometimes kids outgrow this allergy but every time we tried to give him a little dairy (we only tried 1-2 times because it hurt him so much) he would have a reaction. Well, I gave Cam some cheese a few days ago and nothing happened, I tried again the next day and still nothing... dare I hope?!? It's been 5 days with a little bit of dairy everyday and still no reaction!!!!!! I'm so happy. No more soy milk and dairy-free butter (yes, there is such a thing). No more making a separate dinner for Campbell every night. No more reading the hundreds of labels on food to make sure they are safe for him. And best of all Campbell finally gets to enjoy cheese, milk, chocolate, ice cream, yogurt etc.

Oh Happy Day!!!!

Hallie's interview on her school's "Newscast"

Yea, she's pretty much famous.

Construction begins on our new room!

We've been working really hard on our new room... okay mostly Trevor's been working really hard (he calls me Vanna White because I stand there and hand him things) but make no mistake, those huge beams didn't get up there by themselves (my shoulders have the bruises to prove it!)

This has been quite the process and we want to document the progress on our blog so we will have it to look back on (plus I know my fam loves this kind of stuff- hi fam!).

Anyway, this idea to build a room over our garage started months ago because we only
have 3 bedrooms and a large garage with a big empty attic.

First thing we cut a hole in our wall (where the door will go to the new room) big enough to crawl through but small enough to patch if we decided it was not worth it. Once we did all of the measuring we fount that in order to make it tall enough we had to build the floor lower than the attic was so the next step was to tear out all of the drywall (I know- crazy!) in the garage and start building our floor with 24 ft long I-beams.
This is a picture looking up from the garage after we took out the dry wall.


Here we are now, we have half of the floor in and it is getting exciting since getting the floor in has been quite the challenge! We still have a lot to do so we will keep posting updates but we hope to be finished by this fall and then we will need some volunteers to come try out our new guest bedroom. Any volunteers?

Tapping into my crafty side... it's been neglected for way too long!

I've decided one of the reasons I have felt so worn out (okay, and onery) lately is because I haven't done anything creative for a long time so watch out because I'm pulling out my paint, sander, and scrapbook paper... let the projects begin!

I painted this bathroom my favorite color green several months ago and added these mirrors that I originally painted white but still wanted more color and didn't know how to add it. Then my sis finished her mirrors like this with cute red paper and I thought I would do what I do best and copy her!

I just painted the mirror's frame brown, cut out some scrapbook paper, and mod podged it on. Anyway, I think it is so fun and it was so easy!!!

Any Biggest Loser Fans out there?

Last nights Biggest Loser was AWESOME! I was screaming when Kelly and Ali got the highest % of weight lost! They rock!

I can't help but be a little sad that Dan was kicked off, he was fun to watch but I rolled my eyes (yet again) as they did their "pride shout". It makes me laugh that these 4 guys think they are so cool and yet they are attacking these 2 now-little girls, how macho is that? They are a bunch of bullies if you ask me and I really hope a woman wins!! PLEASE!!

So Kelly and Ali, I'm rooting for you! Don't let those boys get to you and don't let me down!

Happy Easter!

Our Easter Books

We wanted to help the girls understand the importance of Easter and Christ's resurrection more this year so we started last Sunday and every night we read about some of the things Christ did before His resurrection and after we read we would draw a picture of what we read. I just wanted to share some of those drawings.

This is a picture Megan drew of Jesus cleansing the temple and this second one Hallie drew of Christs triumphal entrance into Jerusalem.

Megan and Hallie drew these pictures of Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane.

And Hallie drew this one this morning.

Happy Birthday Hallie-Bug

Hallie celebrated her 7th birthday a few days ago. Wow, she is getting so big. I just wanted to take a minute and share some things about Hallie.

First some funny stories:

~When Hallie was 2 she had some m&ms and was playing in a room with our little dog Belle. After a few minutes she came out of the room in tears and said, "Belle ate my m&ms. Me said 'NO!' Belle said 'Yes, Yes, Yes!'' That's when we first learned that Belle could talk.

~ When Hallie was 10months old we were watching TV and I started singing loudly and emphatically :) to a commercial that came on. I remember Hallie looked at me with a very puzzled expression then promptly took her binky out of her mouth and stuck it in mine. ...Message recieved.

Hallie is the sweetest and most thoughtful little girl I have ever known. She is always thinking about other peoples feelings. Hallie is very sensitive in many ways. I have to be very careful with my tone of voice at our house. My "yelling" (as Hallie calls it) is really just talking in a lower tone of voice and that is traumatic enough for Hallie. If anyone (including her new soccer coach or the lifeguard at the YMCA) actually "yells" at her you can count on at least an hour of tears and sadness. She doesn't understand why anyone could do something so mean.

Hallie wants to do what is right. She is quick to point out the warning signs on the grocery cart if Megan or some other kid is riding on the cart improperly. She is a rule keeper which is great when your her mother.

She is also sensitive to the spirit. She has always been.

~I remember when she was 3 years old she was laying in bed and she said, "The other night I felt my heart right here (pointing to her chest) and it felt warm and I think it was the Holy Ghost talking to me."

~Another time when she was 4 Hallie woke up in the middle of the night with a tummy ache. I gave her some Tylenol then headed back to bed. When I got in my room I could hear her little voice on the baby monitor. I turned up the monitor and listened as Hallie prayed to her Heavenly Father to help her tummy to feel better, it was a sweet experience for me.


Hallie is a great helper. She loves to help me clean (I know, I'm enjoying it while it lasts!) and to help in any motherly way possible (my dad calls it "big sister syndrome" the need to "help" the younger siblings).

She is a lot like me in so many ways and yet stronger and better than I think I was at her age. She is going to be a wonderful mother some day. But for now she is my little girl, my little 7-year-old girl and I so blessed to call her mine.

Happy Birthday Hallie!

When I got my hair cut

I got my hair cut today!! It was very fun! Now it's up to my chin it is very very short now it will be fun to have very short hair!!! I donated my hair to locks of love and they are going to make a wig out of my hair. I'm glad I did it cause it was lots of fun!!!!! I hope they like their new wig.


Kathryn's comments: Hallie is loving herself with short hair. I can't get her to leave the mirror! On the way home from the salon she said, "Everyone's going to be so astonished (yes, she said astonished), they might even faint!" And to make things even more exciting tomorrow is her birthday. She is one happy little girl and that makes for one happy mommy.
P.S. This post is dedicated to Trevor who is working tonight but couldn't wait to see the new do.

He's always watching.

We've given Meg a complex.
I think we may have emphasized the principle that Jesus is always with us and watching us too much. Yesterday (and again this morning) Megan had to go potty and was convinced that -"Heavenly Father and all the people in heaven are going to watch me."
We stood there (well, I stood while Megan did the potty dance) for 5 minutes while I tried to convince her that nobody in heaven was going to watch her go potty.
I'm pretty sure my explanation was not scripturally sound... "Ummm Heavenly Father is always watching you... except for when you go potty."
I fear that I am really messing my kids up.

Conversations over dinner

Hallie is an animal lover. She is not currently a vegetarian but she has considered it. This was our conversation tonight over dinner.


Hallie- "Megan this is an animal."
Megan- "What kind of animal?"
Hallie- "It is a chicken, you know, like a hen."
Megan- "Oooh... but, I like chickens."
Hallie- "The chicken wants a life, it wants to learn. It doesn't want to 'peep, peep'... KILL!"
Megan- "... How does Heavenly Father kill the chickens?"


This conversation reminded me of many conversations we had a few years ago when Hallie first discovered that we eat animals. We were eating steak and she asked me what it was and where it came from. I made the mistake of being totally honest and she was horrified. She still will not eat steak. Megan witnessed all of these conversations and I remember one day at preschool Megan and I were playing in the little kitchen with the plastic food and I said, "Megan will you make me a hamburger?" She said, "That is not a hamburger. It's dead cow."

Last weeks snowstorm

Last week we had record snow here (everyone we talked to said it had been 10 years since they last saw this much snow)
School was cancelled (for the 5th time this year) and the kids had a blast playing in the fresh powdery snow. They built this snow fort and a snowman and went sledding with the neighbors which I hear was awesome (I stayed home with Cam). It was fun to get a good snowstorm. Now, it is time for Spring!

Yummy

Megan must be growing because she is constantly eating lately. The other day she asked me if she could look under the stairs (where we keep our food storage) for something to eat. I turned on the light for her and went about doing other things. A few minutes later I walked in the kitchen to find Megan with a huge bottle of canola oil on the table. She said, "Mom, I want to have this." I said, "Megan, that isn't something you drink, it's oil." "YUM" she said.