I just came across these pictures from Christmas. They were on a camera we don't use very often. I got a kick out of them.Every Christmas Eve we give the kids new pajamas. We call them their "magic pajamas" because they make Santa come. Here they are modeling them.

Aaaaaaand....I'm not sure what they're doing here.

Carson and Jantzen had their first track meet of the year last week.Apparently, there was some "down time" in which Jantzen could practice warming her ears with her legs.

Check out her smile! You can even see it through the blurry picture.This is Carson running the 1500. He loves this event, but I'm not sure why. I can't figure out if he loves the winning part or the actual running part. As Carson would put it, he "owned" this race. The next kid was almost a minute behind him and he beat his personal best to finish in 6:25. I love this picture because it shows his friend, Parker cheering him on. His friends would run around the inside of the track and try to run along side so they could help encourage him. Carson is so lucky to have a good group of friends at church and at school. On Sunday he and Nick kept laying their heads in each other's laps and then stroking each others hair. Weird, I know but I think they just did it so I would laugh while I was trying to lead the music. It worked.

Anyways...

Keaton wasn't too excited about going to his little brother and sister's track meet but I reminded him of how they came to his tennis match to support him and that he should return the favor. To that he replied, "Tell them they don't need to come to any more of my tennis matches." Very funny, Keaton.

And because I know you haven't heard enough ramblings about our kitchen...

What do you know? It's still not done! A million dollars goes to the person who can guess what's missing.

But seriously, folks I can't complain about not having a dishwasher or a complete backsplash. Mostly because I'm the one doing the tile on the backsplash so complaining to myself gets me nowhere. I'm afraid there might be retaliation if I file a complaint, anyways. Plus, after living for a month with nothing but a microwave, this is small beans! Washing dishes by hand is a pain, but I've definitely lived through worse!

I'm really happy with the way things are turning out. Chris and I were talking tonight about all the yard work that needs to be done, and how we can't afford to do it now because of all the money we spent on the kitchen. But we decided it's okay. We'll just camp out in our kitchen all summer and try not to look at the yard.

Beware...Lots of pictures

Well, we're back safe and sound from our trip to Utah. I'll give a quick update of what's been going on. It's all out of order and disorganized, but I'm really short on time because I have a Scentsy booth at the home and garden show in Pendleton this weekend and I need to go to bed! Plus, I rented Twilight...

Well, usually the highlight of our trip is the skiing, and this day was no exception. I was sick the whole week and didn't ski at all, but the boys had a ski day with Grandpa Tom and Uncle Spencer on Monday. The six person chair lift is so cool because they were all able to ride it together. You can't understand the coolness of that until you've skied with family. It's just so much fun to sit on the lift together and relive the run you just took. Maybe even laugh at your Uncle Spencer for skiing into a tree! Then top it off with a five dollar hot cocoa and some ten dollar fries and the day is complete.

I love these pictures because it shows the craziness of the family I married into. This is at Robbie's indoor soccer game that we went to after celebrating Grandpa Tom and Grandma Fay's 40th anniversary.

It's pretty much impossible to get a normal picture with these guys!


Next up we have Keaton's 13th birthday. Yes, you heard it right folks. Keaton is 13! An official teenager. We're so glad he doesn't act like a typical teenager. He's such a good kid, I mean guy, and we're lucky to have him in our family. For his birthday he wanted nothing more than to go play paintball, so that's what we did. Here he is joining us in singing Happy Birthday to himself.

We also went to a Utah Jazz game against the Houston Rockets. What a blast! It was our first NBA game.
This was our kids' first experience on public transportation so I had to be a dorky tourist and take a picture. What can I say? We're hicks!

Fay, Jennifer, McKenzie and I went to the Young Women General Broadcast on Saturday night at the LDS Conference Center. Wow! That place is huge and beautiful! The meeting was great and I really enjoyed the talks. This was my first time seeing the prophet in person, and it was such a neat experience. I'm so glad I went.

Then to top it off we came home to.....

Countertops!
Yip yippee yippito! Now I can start to put things back together. It has been so nice to be able to unpack some boxes and now when I need a fork, I find it in a kitchen drawer, not in a box in the living room. Words cannot describe how much better I feel about life now. Those who know me know that I do NOT like disorganization and chaos!
Nevermind the fact that I don't have an oven, a dishwasher or running water in the kitchen yet. Because what I DO have is a stove and a microwave convection oven. And although I don't really LOVE doing the dishes in the laundry room sink, we're making progress toward normalcy and I'm loving it!

Then today was Keaton's first tennis match. (Note to self: learn how the scoring works before the next match. I had no idea what was going on. Duh!)
It was so windy and cold that I had a really hard time paying attention (So did Jantzen!). And I couldn't manage to pull my cold butt off the bleachers to take a better picture than this one, so you'll have to believe me when I tell you that that IS Keaton in the black pants and camo jacket. I actually kinda like this picture because there's so much going on in it. Keaton playing tennis, Carson rooting for his big brother, Jantzen being Jantzen, her hair telling the story of the windy day and the dark clouds in the background. I know it won't win any photography awards or anything, but I still think it's kinda cool.

Oh happy day!

Monday we had a very special visitor...

(Cue the singing angels)And we've had very special visitors every day since Monday because we chickened out on installing the cabinets ourselves and hired some very talented guys to do it for us.

(Yes, that's my breakfast cooking)

And it's a darn good thing because it turns out that our walls, ceiling and floors are "like the rolling hills of Kentucky", as our installer put it, and I'm sure we would have said a few swear words, messed it up beyond all repair and then took a torch to the whole kitchen.

We are paying the installers by the hour and it has been taking a REALLY long time, due to the hill situation. Chris and I did a little bit of mental math and we started to get really sweaty. Especially when the owner of the company said, "This has been one of the most challenging jobs we've been on in a long time." In my mind I was starting to see dollar bills fly out the window, but later he said that this has been really a good training experience for his helper and that he would just charge us a flat rate. What a nice guy!

So now we are off to Utah for spring break and when we get home the countertops and sink should be installed. Then we will be VERY CLOSE to a normal life again.

There is a faint glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.

Well, you can't tell from this picture, but A LOT of work has been done this week on our kitchen. Since my last post we have done some more electrical work, finished hanging sheet rock, taped all the seams and textured the walls and ceiling. We also scraped up the old linoleum floors and took the old carpet out of the dining room. Today the kids and I primed and painted the walls and ceiling. Whew! I am tired just remembering all the work that's been happening.
So now we are getting to the exciting part... putting everything back together. It's funny how you grow to be thankful for the little things when you've gone without everything. Right now I am so excited to have my pantry back come Monday. There's a possibility that we will get more pieces installed on that day but I dare not get my hopes up.
We are really tired of eating frozen food. It just doesn't satisfy the appetite that we have when we've been working all day. And I'm starting to feel kind of crummy from all the processed foods. Don't get me wrong-I'm not some organic eating health nut, but I'm used to home cooked meals and gosh darn it, I MISS THEM! Our friends Jake and Karen were kind enough to have us over for dinner one night this week so that was a really nice break from our pathetic food we've been eating here.
Friday we're leaving for Utah to spend spring break with Grandpa Tom and Grandma Fay. Grandma Fay is the queen of home cooked meals. It will be such a treat for us. Can't wait to come and eat all your food, Fay! hehe
Keaton has decided to go out for tennis this year. In the past he's always done track, but he thought he'd try something new. So far he's enjoying it and coming home tired and sore. Their first match is March 30 and I'm excited to be involved in something new.
Carson had his last basketball game today. His team went undefeated (again). I think the closest game they played was 6 to 24. One of the games was won 0 to 34. That poor team! I felt so sorry for them, I kept wishing our team would just let them have a basket or two. I think it's just a matter of time until the city puts an end to this team Carson always plays on.

Right after spring break is when the track season starts and Jantzen is finally old enough to do it this year. Yippee! She's so excited to finally be able to do what her brothers have been doing every spring. I'm dreading the three hour track meets in the cold and wind, but I guess that's just the way it goes. Until I save enough money to move to Hawaii I guess I'll just have to get used to it.

Here's a few cute pictures from the last week:

Nice safety glasses, huh?

Jantzen LOVES to help clean the bathroom. It probably won't last long enough for her to actually get good at it.

Poor Kamber, she endures so much humilitation!

Welcome to my world, Part 9,765,251

Progress IS being made. I repeat. Progress IS being made!

Despite a couple of minor setbacks, (like electricity running through Chris body a few times), we are making pretty good time on our little project. Check it out:

We have almost finished putting up the sheet rock. All of the old cabinets are out except for the island. I am clinging to the island for dear life because it is a great place to put all our tools while we're working. Well at least that's what I'm telling Chris. Really it's because it holds my ONLY accessible dishes. Without them we would be eating cereal out of a toolbox. I would be slicing apples with a utility knife and and then serving them up on a piece of sandpaper.

Oh yeah, and just when I thought there was nothing more I could possibly lose, Chris found one more thing to take apart...the railing above the stairs.
Nobody has fallen yet, but I know it will probably happen eventually. And I have a feeling it's gonna be me.

Welcome to my world--Part 2

First let's refresh our memories. I'm gonna go back in time to the good ole' days when I could cook whenever I wanted. "What's that you say child? You'd like a sandwich? No problem. I'll have one whipped up for you in 30 seconds or less."

Now we'll fast forward to Monday, the day my world came crashing down on me. The day I lost my oven and my upper cabinets.Notice how we're still smiling here because we haven't...
Done this yet!Did I mention that I lost my ceiling on Monday too? Oh, yeah and lighting. When I lost my ceiling I also lost about 30 degrees in the kitchen and gained a nice breeze which caused a constant rain of insulation on us.
Yesterday things got better...and worse. I got my ceiling back, but I lost my stove, sink, lower cabinets, drinking water from the fridge, walls and ...MY SANITY! All I have left in the world is a fridge and a microwave. Has anyone ever tried to cook a Papa Murphy's pizza in the microwave? Just wondering.