Main Floor Before And After

I have had people ask for before/after pictures of our house.  I kept on wanting to wait until I have things where I want them, walls done and pictures/decoration hung.  I have done a few before/after pictures, but I haven't done many.  Well the house is never going to be exactly how I want, so here are some before (before we bought the house) and after (after we fixed the house up) pictures....

front walkway before:                                                                 

          

front walkway after:         

    

front room before:

    

front room after:

    

hallway before:                                                                

                                 

hallway after:

Madi's room before:

    

Madi's room after:

    

     main floor bathroom before:

    

This room was probably in the best shape of the whole house.  It was the only room that we kept the blinds, the rest were in rough shape.

main floor bathroom after:

Emma's room before:

    

Emma's room after:

    

current TV room before:                                               

    

current TV room after:

dining room before:                                                       

    

dining room after:

  

kitchen before:

    

kitchen after:

    

If you think these are great before and after pictures, just wait until I post the basement pictures.  

Christmas 2011

I know some of the family has been waiting for me to post present pictures, so here they are...

I got a great deal on three books, so I made one for each girl and one for my parents of our Disneyland trip of 2010.  As you can see the girls love them.

Squinkies from Uncle Rusty. 

This Spring I was able to get a great deal on Study Bibles for the girls.

Littlest Pet Shops and Build A Bear clothes were a great hit.  I scored on these this summer when I was garage saleing.

The girls also got some DS games from Grandma and Grandpa.

Moose earrings from Yellowstone National Park.  I can't get these out of Madi's ears as that's all she wants to wear.

I made this back in September.  It is a collage of the Youth Yellowstone Trip we took in August.  The collage  (free, except for labor on my part) is hanging in Chris' office.

I was able to get Eggnog Mohacs for almost two weeks out of this carton.  Yumm!  It's hard to wait a whole year for another one.

As you can see we are not in our PJs this year.  I wanted to make sure we were all ready for church before we opened our presents.  Chris made a delicious breakfast, then we opened presents, went to church, came home and ate lunch, read the Christmas story, made sugar cookies, went over to Papa and Nana's for dessert and then back to our house for a late dinner of calzones.  We had a great family day celebrating Christ's birth.  

Singing With Daddy

On the 12th of December our church had a carol sing. Chris and the girls sang "One King." This is the first time the girls sang up front at Sonrise besides being in a group of singers. They did a wonderful job; it's a beautiful song.

South Utah

This spring we had the opportunity to go to the Saint George area for an extended weekend.  We were able to stay at one of our church family member's vacation home.  We had a great time, although it started with a delicious ice cream stop about an hour south of Salt Lake City, it wasn't until four hours later when we stopped for dinner I discovered that I left my purse at the ice cream shop.  Let's just say that I wasn't able to relax as well as planned, but had numerous conversations with staff that my purse was safe until our trip back.  Had a couple of other minor things happen, ending with a call from Dad informing us that Mom had fallen.  Despite all that, we had a great time...

These next 11 pictures are taken at Zions National Park.  The weather was beautiful, so we were able to enjoy some hikes.  Emma was my go getter on the hikes.  She was bold and usually walked ahead of us.  Those that know Emma, know that she is my more cautious child, but apparently not in Zions. 

I cherish these family times where we are enjoying God's creation and having a restful time...

As I started to walk through this mud behind the waterfalls, I decided I should take a picture.  My shoes got worse and still to this day have red stain on them.  It was fun to look at other people's feet to see who walked the whole trail and who turned around at the mud.

These are Madi's shoes near the end of the red mud, although you can't see it, she had mud up her pants as well.

Mule dear we saw on a trail.

We enjoyed playing family games and eating treats.  We even splurged and bought Stewart's Soda (sitting on the table).




The next 5 pictures were taken in St. George...

The Other Side...

Yesterday Madi was having a grumpy day.  While her and I were on the way to the store, I asked her why she was grumpy.  She said that she was up in the middle of the night and didn't get enough sleep.  Then she said, "I guess I got up on the other side of the bed."  Thankfully we were in the car and she didn't see my laughing smile.  I waited a few seconds and then asked, "You got up on the wrong side of the bed?"  Yes, she replied.  Too cute!

Then later that day the whole family was in the car on the way home from church.  While the girls were having their own conversation I told Chris the story.  He then asked Madi if she got up on the other side of the bed.  She smiled and said, "yes."  Then Emma, not understanding the inside joke, questioned, "you got up on the other side of the bed?"   She was confused since Madi's other side of the bed is against the wall.  I then explained the story from earlier that day.  I love laughable moments.  

August Time In The Mountians

While my parents and brother were here in August we went up in the mountains...

Olympic Park...                         

Went swimming (and skating)...

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow...

Although there wasn't any snow on the ground for Madi's Snowflake Birthday Party, there were flakes coming down as her friends left.  She had four of her friends over and then afterwards we went to Red Robins and Cold Stone as a family compliments of b-day clubs and gift cards.  We usually don't do both on the same day, but they wouldn't bring her a desert at Red Robins.  She was crushed; I should have said something, because Emma got a half order of mud pie in October for hers.   She still had a special day!  I can't believe my baby girl is 9 years old! Here are some pictures from her party...

Hot chocolate and cake, yum.

Emma taught everyone how to make snowflakes out of paper.

I think she likes the earrings from Uncle Rusty.