Exhausted

I'm finally getting around to getting the pictures of our family throughout the years at Redfish. We didn't take a picture when we were there the first year we were married so the first picture is actually my second year there.

2001 Nikosha was only six weeks old this year. What were we thinking?

2002

2003

2004 I'm not sure where the picture is with Nate in it, but he really was there.

2005

(I can't find our 2006 picture)

2007

We've been working our tails off this week! Part of the deal on selling the house was to finish the basement, so we've been working like crazy on that while we also are working on finishing the new house: handrail, toilets, sinks, outdoor stairs, carpet, cleaning, etc., etc. All of this on top of packing and everything that goes along with moving. We are totally exhausted from staying up so late trying to get stuff done when the kids are sleeping. Our kids are totally exhausted also from running them back and forth to the different houses and on all of our errands and stuff. Next week is crunch time, so we can have everything moved and ready by the 15th so we'll see how it all goes. Then I think once we're all moved in we're all just going to sleep for a week straight. I gotta go get to bed so I can wake up and get to work.

Redfish

We got back last night from our annual trip to Redfish Lake. Unfortunately, it was a quick trip since we have two houses to finish and a ton of packing to do in about two weeks. We got there Monday night about 8 o'clock p.m. (It's about a 4 1/2 hour drive.) And got home Wednesday night about 8 o'clock p.m. We have some great friends who let us borrow their super-nice travel trailer again this year. (Thanks again Brad and Karri!!!) It really makes camping with kids so much more doable. (If that's a word.)

Getting ready for a bike ride. My bike was broken so I rode Nikosha's and Nikosha rode Katelyn's. Bre and I actually took turns riding Nikosha's, otherwise I might have died getting that much exercise. J/K

Playing on the beach. This only lasted about a half hour before it got too cold and started raining.

We love to ride our bikes to the Lodge about 1/2 a mile away and get popsicles from the little store.

This is the first time we rented a paddle boat. Nikosha and Kenzi loved it, but Katelyn was a little bit nervous.

We try to take a family picture every year on the beach at Redfish. Do you see the gorgeous Sawtooth Mountains in the background. This will have been my 9th year going to Redfish. Nate and I actually celebrated our 8th anniversary up there this year. I've included some of the pictures. It's interesting to see how our family has changed over the years. Okay, I lied...I'm not going to include those pictures because they are taking forever to upload, so I'll have to include them on my next post.

Our House Sold!!

It's not actually official yet because it was only a verbal agreement today until their realtor gets back into town to sign the papers. But don't feel bad if you're reading this before I told you in person because I just found out tonight when Nate was on his way to work and it's been too crazy at the home front to call and let anyone know. It hasn't really sunk in yet, but I do know it's going to be a very, very sad day when we move. I've made so many wonderful friends in this neighborhood! This little slide show is dedicated to all of you!

Kyler's Baby Blessing and New House

I just figured out what the "preview" button means when you create a post. So now you know why my last post was so whacked with all the spacing. Sorry about trying to read that.

We blessed our little man, Kyler, yesterday. Isn't he absolutely adorable?!!!

His top button could barely button because he's gotten so big. (He was exactly 2 months old and weighs 14 pounds.) The shoes he wore were actually the same exact shoes Nate wore when he was blessed.

And can you believe how HOT my husband looks in his suit?!! My two boys look great together. It's definitely one of my favorite pictures. (You'll have to notice that Nate's actually smiling with his teeth. That's pretty rare.)

This is our first family picture, so now I can update our family picture on our blog.

Nate finally got pictures of our new house we're building, but I still want all of you to come see it in person.
This is the front of the house, located in The Village on the west side of Idaho Falls.



This is Nikosha's room. I LOVE the colors. Plus it will work for a boy or a girl later on. We bought a bedspread first and matched the colors to it. Nate only took a picture of this bedroom, but we also did a VERY purple room for Katelyn that is really cute too.

This is my very own office/craft room. It's a huge room that is designed just for my vinyl and Mary Kay stuff!

Around this corner is our shower in the master bathroom. I'm now a professional grouter. I grouted the tile in our whole house. Unfortunately, I didn't really do it right at first, so I don't love what I did on the first couple rooms, but the last ones ended up great (thanks to Scott for teaching me the right way).

This is our laundry room. We wanted to try something different, so we went with the whitewashed stain. They look a lot cooler in person.

And this is my kitchen! Yahoo! I LOVE my counter tops. They are solid granite and I think I appreciate them a lot more after having the counter tops I have now. This is actually the cleanest I've ever seen this kitchen. Apparently Nate hid all the junk back behind the island.

By the way, we got an offer on our "Gemmet Creek" house today that we countered back on, so we'll see what happens with that.

FUN FUN FUN!!!

Summertime is always sooo fun and sooo busy! I wish I was better about updating my blog, but it seems like I always wait until lots has gone on and then put it on all at once.



The last two weeks...began with a "princess and prince" birthday party for one our friends...
















So these are my little princesses with their friend, Hayden. Kyler was a huge hit at the party too, even though he wasn't dressed up as anything.





That same week, we got to go to Provo, Utah to stay with Nate's brother, Roman, and his family. While we were there we went to Seven Peaks which was a little crazy with 7 kids, but we endured and had a great time...






















It was a little embarrassing to have to wear a swimming suit when my baby is only 6 weeks old! Kyler was great, though! He just slept most of the time.








When we got back from Utah, we had two birthday parties for Nikosha, who turned 7 years old on Sunday. Her first party was on Saturday with her friends. It was a water party...













Nikosha got heelys for her birthday. I'm not really sure when she's going to wear them, but that's what she really wanted.
























Then on Sunday we had all the family over for brownies and ice-cream...



We have a little problem with the kids all wanting to blow out the candles before we even get done singing happy birthday. I think this was the third try when we just decided to cover their mouths.












We had a great 4th of July! We went to the parade where we got to sit in the scorching sun and collect candy. (We even got interviewed by Channel 6 News, but apparently they didn't care for our comments because they didn't include us in the news that night.) Roman and Roberta and their family came up from Utah, so that was fun to see them again. After the parade we barbecued hot dogs and then took naps. For dinner, we barbecued hamburgers with Nate's whole family. Then we went to Scotty's drive-in and got ice-cream and sat in Scotty's parking lot with a bunch of friends and family to watch the fireworks. It was a perfect 4th of July...

Everyone at the parade kept creeping farther and farther onto the street and this is a picture of Katelyn and Caleb we took at one point during the parade. (They have no clue that they are practically sitting in the middle of the parade.)


Now we're pretty tired after all this excitement so we better rest for our big day tomorrow. (Kyler is getting blessed.)

The New House

For three days straight now our family has all been over at the new house working to try to get it ready for carpet. Okay...that's not necessarily true. I should say Nate has been working on the new house and I've been doing pretty much the same thing I do when I'm at home: nursing baby, rocking baby, changing diapers, feeding kids, taking kids to the bathroom, etc. Every once in awhile I can grout some of the tile and if I'm lucky my grout doesn't get all dried up before I can get it all on, but hey, I guess at least we're there for moral support. I don't know what I would do without having Kristi, my sister, right there a block away. Just today, I think we took at least 5 potty stops over there, on top of going there to get a new outfit one time and a diaper another time. (And I thought I was prepared enough to be out of the house for a whole day.) Actually, what happened is Kenzi locked the keys in the car and the diaper bag was still in there. Luckily, I also have a wonderful dad, who came and picked up our other set of keys and brought them to us. And while I'm talking about how lucky we are: Eric, my brother, and Austin, Nate's brother, have also been over at our house busting their tooshies to help us get our house done. Thanks guys! Well, sorry there's no pictures. I've been meaning to take my camera over there all week, but it's all we can do to make it out of the house with all of the kids dressed and fed, so maybe I'll get around to taking pictures someday.

Vinyl Business

For those of you who don't know, my friend and I own our own vinyl business. We've done so well that we've been able to buy a second vinyl cutter. I love doing vinyl and it's perfect for us to be able to do out of our house. We get so busy doing projects for other people that we don't do much for ourselves, but these our a couple of my projects. Feel free to copy any of my stuff because I just copied most of them from someone else, just make sure you order your vinyl from us. Here's our web-site for our business: http://wordexpressions.net/