This Week

This week we have had the most gorgeous weather! Everyday the windows are open, it is a perfect temperature, a slight breeze comes through the house and I can hear the waterfall from the pool.  It is amazing!  Preschool started again this week which means I went back to the gym and my house got cleaned.  Hooray!  My most brilliant idea this week was to have Randy pick up Rhett from school on Wednesday.  This allowed me to finish the house cleaning chores and we had lunch together.
We also spent an afternoon at the park with friends.  Went to the duck park and played before dinner.  We are trying to capitalize on the good weather and the few extra minutes of sunshine that is manifesting itself these days!  We can not wait for the time to change again.
Lastly, Rhett played with his cousins at Nana's Friday afternoon giving mom the afternoon off!

New Year's Hike

Since New Year's was on a Sunday, Monday the 2nd was more like New Year's Day.  We started the year off with a hike.  It was fun to get everyone out moving and enjoying the beautiful weather.  (not a good picture but documentation none the less.)

Mesa Temple Lights

Randy and the kids.  Clearly, Porter was thrilled!

 Ezra

Kylie and Cody

Mom, Bill and Fallon

Cousin Pictures

We didn't have any pictures of all the kids together so we took some!  We put them in whatever we had, picked a park and gave ourselves 15 minutes.  That really is all you get with 5 kids!  It worked!  They turned out pretty good!

Christmas (part 2) . . Arizona

After some discussion Randy and I decided to leave early for our trip to Arizona.  Instead of leaving at 6am the day after Christmas as planned, we decided to leave Christmas night.  We came home from Randy's parents, finished packing and pulled out of our drive way just before 11pm.  I am proud to say I stayed a wake most of the drive! That is quite an accomplishment for me.  We pulled in to my sister's house at 6am and were able to get a few hours of sleep before all the excitement began!
We enjoyed Christmas #2 at my parent's new house in Arizona that day.  Randy and Jeff golfed while the kids played and the girls caught up.  Then presents and a delicious dinner!  Randy spent a couple days with us in Arizona before flying back home to go back to work.  Rhett and I finished out the week and drive home on Saturday, New Year's Eve.
We spent the week mostly hanging out.  The kids played, scootered around my parents block tons of times, watched movies, we did a little shopping, went to see the Mesa Temple Christmas lights and mostly just hung out.  It was a nice, relaxing, fun week just being together.
Rhett and I made our drive back home early Saturday morning and made it home to celebrate the New Year with Randy.

The kids were so excited when they woke up and we were already there!  They gave Rhett his Christmas present, which was these mustaches.  They all put them on and watched cartoons!

 Christmas at Noni and Papa's new house in Arizona.

Cute Cousins!

There was lots of scootering and bike riding and skateboarding going on this week!

Christmas 2011 (part 1)

We spent Christmas Eve at home, our little family of three.  We enjoyed some delicious Mexican food and had cookies and milk before bed.  I wanted to watch Polar Express but I have a VERY opinionated 3 year old who was insistent we watch Santa Claus, instead.  So be it, we had holiday movie time together. Mission Accomplished.
Christmas morning was so much fun!  Rhett actually forgot that it was Christmas morning and wanted to watch a cartoon in my bed, his normal morning routine.  I had to remind him that we had a special visitor that night and his eyes lit up when he remembered, SANTA!  He had wanted a Spiderman motorcycle and a Spiderman guy REALLY bad!  That is all he has asked for the last few months.  (If he asked for something in a store I would tell him to "ask Santa".  He would tell me no, he was asking Santa for a Spiderman Motorcyle and Spiderman guy.  He never deviated!) Luckily, Santa didn't disappoint!
Rhett also received his first set of legos, monster trucks, a hot wheels raceway, books and movies.  He was thrilled to play with his toys all morning long.

We attended church together as a family and then headed to Randy's moms for dinner and more present opening.

does it get any better then this picture? Seriously! the outfit, the face, the pose and the voice and sound affects that accompanied it. LOVE his imagination and listening to him play.

Cousins at Nana & Grandpa Bryce's

Let the present opening begin!

Update and DIY

I don't think I have ever had such a long break from blogging. It is for good reason though. I have been spending much less time at the computer! Since I stopped working we have been spending time doing other long awaited projects. It has been so much fun!
October brought a big, unexpected change to our family when I stopped working. It was scary and great all at the same time! It didn't happen the way we had thought it would or in the time frame we thought but it is most definitely the best thing for our family and we couldn't be happier about it.

Instead of working I have been spending much more time sleeping, (since I did a lot of work in the wee hours of the morning and after Rhett went to bed). It has been fantastic! Randy and I spend more time in the evenings together hanging out and Rhett and I enjoy more stress free afternoons playing. It has been a wonderful change!

With more time on my hands I have been able to do some projects that I have been dreaming up for some time.

First project: Master Bedroom

I refinished our nightstands and Randy and I made a padded headboard.
Before:

After:

Headboard:

Not the greatest pictures but it is a padded heardboard with nail head trim. 

more projects to come. . . . .