Welcome Baby Ainsley Elizabeth

Born 1/19/2011. The delivery went well. We are glad she is finally here. Esther and Henry love her and fight over who gets to hold her first. We are excited to get to know this new little addition to our family.

Christmas 2010

Christmas always comes in shift for us depending on work schedules. Michael had to work Christmas day so for our little family Christmas morning was done on the 24th of December. Santa brought Henry a work bench and Esther a play kitchen. We had the privilege of having Michael's family come for Christmas this year. Michael's brother Thomas and his wife Laura got up early so that they could share Christmas morning with us.

As part of the work bench came a couple of tools. Henry felt he had to use his saw to open his presents.

Debbi, Monica and Melissa (neighbors and friends from Utah) sent Esther and Henry dust monsters. It is a dusting mitt that has a face sewn onto it. I can't wait for them to help mommy with the dusting.

Ikea was sold out of the bottom half of the kitchen set so Esther just received the top on Christmas morning.

She also got a tea set

Playing with power tools

Christmas Eve night we got together with the rest of Michael's family for dinner and a gift exchange.

We gave Michael's dad a BYU Snuggie which came in very handy when they got stuck in a snow storm heading back to Utah.

Another Christmas had come and gone. This was a hard Christmas for me. It was hard to get in the mood when I was still trying to unpack and get settled. It did feel a little funny without any snow too. I also realized this is the first Christmas that I was not at my parent's house for Christmas Eve. I guess it is time to start some new traditions. We love you all and miss everyone not here with us.

Our House

I know it has taken me a long time to post pictures of the house. I was waiting till it was more put together and a little cleaner but then I realized it is never going to happen. Picking up the toys has come to a stand still since it is hard for me to bend down these days and Esther and Henry just dump out what I do pick up. So Here is our house.
This is Henry's room. He loves birds right now so we put a little tree in his room with birds. Just outside his window is our front yard and two tall trees. Most days there are a few finches playing in the trees, which he loves to watch.

This will be Ainsley's room. As you can see the crib is still waiting to be put together. Ainsely's room is right next to Henry's room.

This is Esther's room. We haven't put her blinds up yet. There is a drape covering the window so it seems very dark. We also haven't gotten her a bed yet. We know which one we want to get we just need to borrow Michael's sisters minivan to get it.

This is the loft/playroom. It is always messy. It is just to the left when you come up the stairs.

This is what Esther and Henry got for Christmas. A play Kitchen and a tool bench.

The next couple of pictures are the master bedroom. We don't have official window coverings for our bedroom yet. The bedroom has two sections to it. This is on the right when you walk in the door.

This picture did not turn out the best but this is moving to the other half of our bedroom.

This is still our bedroom. This is on the left when you walk in the door and just to the left of the couch are two doors. One is the bathroom and the other is the closet. I did not take a picture of the bathroom, sorry.

This is our walk-in closet. We don't have enough hangers because my maternity clothes are occupying some and I don't want to buy more hangers so my scrubs are on the floor.

Here is the kids bathroom which is right next door to Esther's bedroom.

This is the front room. The little patch of tile on the right is where the front door is.

When you walk in the door the front room is on the right and the formal dinning room(which we will have as an office/den) is on the left.

Office/den

Here is the view from the front door. There is a half wall behind the couch which leads into the guest bedroom. Right now it does not have a door but we plan on putting a french door there soon. The door to the right behind the half wall is the half bath.

Guest bedroom.

Family room.

Messy family room/Kitchen

Kitchen. I took this picture when the kitchen was as picked up as it gets. The door leads to the pantry and washer/dryer. From there, is another door to the garage.

THE POOL

The backyard dirt. The backyard needs an overhaul. It is mostly dirt or sand. We plan on putting in grass and a swing set.

The putting green next to the dirt. I guess the people who lived here before liked to golf.

Here is a picture of the pool from the sliding door in the guest bedroom. I hope you liked the tour of our house. If you would like to see more you will have to come for a visit.

The plumbing

It has been a roller coaster couple of days. On Saturday the plumber that our home warranty wanted to come came. He looked around to see if he could figure out why we didn't have cold water in our kitchen and to the washer. After about half an hour he felt like it was a clog in the line or the line was pinched. But here is the kicker, all the plumbing from the main in AZ is run in the cement slab foundation. So his suggestion was to jack hammer our kitchen floor and garage to find the problem with thousands of dollars, and after a phone call to the home warranty company with his findings they won't cover the cost because they feel it is a preexisting condition. After a few tears were shed and an ulcer created with stress we got a second opinion. Second plumber, 4 hours and 300 dollars later problem solved. We had to cut a few holes in the drywall in the pantry but who cares. The problem was the cold water running off the main by the water heater had some previous repair work done and the plumber who did the work shoved what looked like a paper towel in the pipe, for a temporary reason, but then forgot to remove it and it cloged the line. Michael and I were so excited that it was only 300 dollars and not 3 thousand that we took the kids out for ice cream. On a side note the refigerater finally got delivered on Tuesday so we are doing great. Now the only problem is the TV. We took it to a repair place and they quoted 500 dollars to repair it. Michael decided to order the part off the internet and fix it himself. Part came Monday but the TV still will not work. I guess we now have to buy a new TV. But it will have to wait a while. Esther needs a bed first.

We finally made it.

With much anticipation we finally are in our new house. There have been many ups and downs so far. We signed paperwork on the Friday before Thanksgiving but the money did not fund until that following Monday, that is when we got the keys. We had the carpets cleaned that Monday and our storage container with all our stuff was supposed to be delivered that day too. Well the truck that brings the container broke and they could not get it delivered till Friday. We were not happy but what can you do. So we spent the week buying a washer, dryer, refrigerator, microwave and a dishwasher. We were not expecting to buy a dishwasher but when I was cleaning the kitchen I noticed the dishwasher had water sitting in the bottom of it. It smelt like rotten eggs. We tried running a cycle but it just leaked water and still did not drain. We bought the washer, dryer, and refrigerator from Home Depot because they were doing black Friday sale prices all week. The problem with that is they are selling a ton of appliances and the delivery is backed-up. The washer and dryer were delivered on the 30th, but when the delivery guys went to install it we discovered that the cold water is not working. We knew we did not have cold water in the kitchen, not sure why. The washer will not work if the cold water is not turned on. We have cold water for the rest of the house. So we had to call a plumber and of course can't come out till Saturday. Till then I will keep wearing the same pair of pants. The refrigerator can't be delivered till the 7th so we are using our deep freezer as a fridge. We have it on the lowest setting and we plug it in for a couple of hours at a time. We leave it unplugged at night or everything starts to freeze, we do have a thermometer in the freezer to make sure it does stay cold enough. I know it sounds crazy but if you could have seen Henry's face lit up when he saw his crib in his bedroom it has been worth it. He and Esther have been sleeping in pack-n-plays in the same room at Michael's sister's house, I think he was getting tired of Esther's middle of the night chit chat sessions. We are trying to get unpacked and settled in. Esther and Henry have been enjoying the warm weather. It has been around 65-70 degrees during the day and 50's at night. We have had to turn the heat on at night. We have been to the park several times. I will include pictures as soon as I find the cable to down load the camera.

SOLD

We finally sold the house and are set to close on the 8th of November. Michael is going to fly in on the 3rd to help pack up the house. We will sign papers on the 8th then load in the car and drive to Saint George that day. We will spend the night in Saint George with Michael's parents then drive the rest of the way to Arizona. We don't have a house yet. I am going to leave the kids here with my mom for 2 days next week fly to Arizona and pick out a house with Michael. We will stay with Michael's sister till we close on a house there. We are hoping to be into our new home by Thanksgiving. We are very excited and can't wait to be together again and start our new life in Arizona. We will miss all our friends and family here in Utah. Utah will always be home for me and I plan to visit a lot.

Trying to catch up

Forgive me father for I have sinned. It has been 4 months since my last blog entry.
What can I say other than it has been a crazy summer. It all began back in May. I was looking forward to a relaxing and fun summer. With the adoption of Esther in July 2008 and the birth of Henry in June 2009 came more house renovations to accommodate such children blessings. So the last two summers lacked that great summer fun. I was determined that nothing was going to ruin this summer. I wanted to spend time at the pool with the kids and do very little work on the house. My plans changed before summer even got here. At the beginning of May Michael and I decided that it was in our best interest to make a move to Arizona. This was not an easy decision and I won't go into all the details but that this is something we are supposed to do. With that decision I knew my summer was gone. It meant that the rest of the house projects would need to be finished in order to put the house up for sale. The week after we decided to move I found out I was pregnant. Now I really knew my summer was long gone. This meant 2-3 months of morning sickness. So between house projects and the pregnancy, life has been a little busy. Michael started his job back in August and I am still here in Utah waiting for the house to sell. We continue to wait till we can be together again and start a new life in Mesa, AZ where I will leave Utah winter and have more summer to maybe enjoy. We are way excited to add another baby to our clan in January. I will try to keep everyone updated on the house and when we make the actual move to Arizona.

Henry's First birthday

On June 7th we celebrated Henry's first birthday. I can't believe a whole year has gone by. We did a dutch oven dinner in the back yard with a few friends and family.

Henry' s Birthday Cake

Esther enjoying some of Henry's cake.

Walking?

This last Saturday Henry walked. He took his first official steps on his own. We were at a friends house, Henry was playing in the kitchen just hanging onto the cabinets when all of a sudden he decided to walk(about 8 steps)to our friend. We were so excited. Michael and I are sad that it wasn't to one of us but at least we were both there to see it. Michael was working when Esther took her first steps. Here is a very short video of Henry walking. sometimes he gets too excited and has a hard time getting his balance before he takes off so he still falls a lot. I bet by his first birthday we will have another walking in the house.

Mother's Day

Here is what I received for mother's day. Michael got me a very huge bouquet of flowers and Esther made a service card in nursery. I was so excited about the card from Esther. I remember giving a card like to my mom for mother's day. It made me feel more like a mother than anything else on that day. We will see if I get my kiss and huge though. It is a rare occasion to get a kiss from Esther, unless you are the doll she is constantly carrying around.

Saint George May

Since Michael has some time off we thought it would be fun to get out of the cold and take a trip to Saint George and visit Michael's parents. We left after church on the 2nd. The drive was very pleasant on the way down and the kids were angels in the car to both of our surprise. That night I was a little worried that we would have some sleeping issues from Henry and Esther since they were in a new place but to my surprise again they both slept through the night without a peep. On Monday we just hung out at the house. I was excited for Monday night baths because the kids would get to bath in a real bathtub and not the kitchen sink. Well it did not go so well. They both hated it. I got the water a little to hot and that turned them off to the whole idea of the tub. Even after we cooled the water neither one of them liked the tub. I was very sad. On Tuesday Michael and I attended a session at the temple while the kids took there afternoon naps. On Wednesday we took the kids to the library where they have a water fountain and a little stream to play in. It was about 85 degrees and gorgeous. Henry and Esther had a blast. Esther just jumped right in the fountain and as you can see got soaked. I wasn't sure Henry would like the water. At first he did not want to put his feet in but once he did he wanted to sit down and splash. Esther had a great time following the other kids up and down the stream. On Wednesday Michael's mom took us shopping for kids clothes. Esther was wearing shorts and fell on the sidewalk and got her first official skinned knee. Later that day we went back to play in the water at the library. On Thursday we packed the car and came home. We didn't have as much luck in the car this time. Henry and Esther cried from about Payson till we pulled the the drive way. Esther would cry for a bit then take a breath while Henry cried and visa versa. It was a long drive home but it was worth it.