Foster Update:

So last night was our last class.  Hooray!!!  We turned in all of our paperwork, which was a ton.  And now we wait.  It's just like waiting for any kid (or baby) to join your family.  The last trimester is the hardest!  We have to get our home study done.  Which means we will need to start locking up all of our meds, chemicals (including laundry soap), power tools, etc.  Which essentially means there will be a lock on the hall closet, laundry room door & garage.  We also need to safety proof our home.  Thankfully they give us guidelines to follow & make it easy as to what they expect.  So starting tomorrow we will work on the list and make sure everything is taken care of.  And even after we are certified and have our home perfect, it doesn't mean we will get a placement right away.  It could be months.  So, patient is the cool way to be around here!  I have learned so much about the do's and don'ts of Foster care.  And so hopefully you will all be patient with us and our future foster child.  Their norm will so not be our norm.  And a slow integration into our norm will be the best way.  We learned about a child last night who started calling his foster mom a b....  She got so offended, but the foster dad talked to the child and found out that that was the pet name for his mom.  They all had pet names in his home.  And by calling her that, he was telling her that he cared about her.  Like I said, their norm is so not our norm.  By the way...he was also sad because after months of hearing that his foster family loved him and really cared about him, they never used his special name.  The father reluctantly asked what it was.  Yup, it was Little Sh..  (Sorry about the semi-swear words......)  Oi Vay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Behold...the table!

So here is a before picture of the table:

Here is my handsome man painting.  He is using his dad's paint sprayer....cut the painting time down to like nothing.  We started about 11 am and were finished about 2.  Meaning it was dry and ready to move into the house at 2 =)

It's finished!!!!

Matt accidentally sprayed his face when he was cleaning out the sprayer.  It was quite hilarious!!!!!  And he was totally a good sport about it =)

Here it is all set up!

And another angle shot...

And another angle shot!

 Can you tell that I am totally in love????

Well I am!!!

Funny story, that has nothing to do with the table:

So, last night we were talking to the kids about Foster care kids.  We are thinking about extending our age range and maybe accepting preteens and teens.  We aren't sure and are still praying super hard about it.  All prayers on our behalf will be lovingly appreciated!

Anyway, we were talking about the different kinds of kids that will come into our home, and maybe eventually we will adopt.  I asked the kids if it would bother them if they got a new brother or sister with a different skin color.  They both said no, and then Ben's eyes lit up.  He said, "That would be so awesome, cause we could play hide and seek and we wouldn't even be able to see them in the dark!!!!"  Oh boy!  That kid had us laughing SO hard.  We are glad he is so accepting of others ;)

The Meadow!!!!

Do ya think someone needs to mow the lawn???

Okay, so it wasn't all that bad.  This is the grass that is under the trampoline.  For some reason it grows REALLY well underneath that thing.  Today was the first day Matt mowed the lawn since last Fall.  The rest of our yard needed mowing, but not as badly as this spot.  The kids thought it was fun to roll around in.  It was also fun to hide Easter eggs in...long grass = amazingly egg hiding!!!

Surprises...I love them!

Matt went and got a house key made Monday night for our favorite babysitter.  The kids play at their house all the time & are babysat a lot by their daughter Katie.  Well with the craziness of the lateness of our foster meetings we figured a key would be in order,  The kids hang out at their house until bedtime, in which Katie needs a key to get into our house.  Make sense?

So Tuesday when I get home from school I pull out my keys to unlock the door and this is what I find:

I just love my husband =)

He is so sneaky!

Introducing....my new dining chairs!

Obviously the yellow one still needs it's cushion recovered, which I did tonight (sorry no pic).  And the one on the end is the original...not so bad, but so not my style!  It will get painted a lovely turquoise shade this weekend.  We are also going to paint our kitchen table and hutch this weekend (I am keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well with my plan!).  I'm doing those in white.  I am also contemplating painting the walls in the kitchen and extremely soft shade of turquoise but haven't decided yet.  I will let you know when the time comes =)

Before:

After:

I'm tired...

6 MORE WEEKS LEFT OF SCHOOL!!!!!
Can you tell I'm excited???
Tonight is our 5th Foster Care class.  I have been really enjoying them, although 4 hours is a bit hard to sit through.  We have gotten fingerprints done, and our paperwork will be ready to turn in next week.  Then we just need to wait for the home inspection, reference letters returned, and our background checks to be completed.   This is going to be a lot of waiting...
I finally started painting my kitchen chairs.  They are so bright and pretty I can't wait until they are done and show you the end results!
Breana is up in Rexburg now.  I drove her up on Saturday.  Boy things have sure changes a lot up there.  I hardly recognize it!  I loved being up there!
I am still working on getting my back fixed...another long process.
I hope you all have a great Monday!

Out with the old, in with the new.

So, I've gotten some questions about the before and after of the removal of the fireplace.  So here they are:

Before:

  We are planning to sell it on KSL, so if anyone wants to buy it off of us, we will give you a sweet deal.

(And no, it doesn't blow air.  Sorry Amber.)  

I really, really want to take out all of this brick, but my bank account says otherwise.  So we will just have to hold onto it for a little bit longer.

Here is our new bookshelf.  We got it at Ikea and I LOVE it!

And besides, it has even more space for more books.  And that makes me a happy girl!

Our first 5k!

Our family was able to participate in a 5k fundraiser for the school a few weeks ago.

Goldenwest Credit Union sponsored the event.  Adults were $10 & kids were $5.  All of the money was donated directly back to the kids school.  And if you actually did the race and crossed the finish line, they doubled the amount they donate.  So we earned $60 for our school.  Pretty amazing!

Here we are before the race...

And we are OFF!!!!!!

Ben and I crossed the finish line first in our family.  It was tough, but we made it through!

After we finished Ben and I were watching for our other half.  Belle & Matt were about 10 minutes behind us.  Belle fell and scraped her knee and pretty much had had enough.  But when I saw them on the last little bit I grabbed Belle's hand and had her run through the finish line with me.  At first she wasn't too happy, but I think my excitement was contagious and she ended with a smile.

 We had so much fun doing this together!  We are excited for next year's 5k!!!

Anyone is welcome to join us =)

Our Little Adventure

Saturday was a very special day for our friend Scott Moon.  He was able to take out his endowments in the Logan temple.  His family has been waiting a long time for this!

Friday night we went up to Logan to hang out with Scott and his family.  We went swimming and just had fun, like we always do.

Of course the only picture I got of our whole adventure was of the massive pizza Matt and Scott went out and bought for our dinner.  It was freaking huge!  One section was  BBQ chicken, another was Hawaiian, the third was pepperoni and sausage, and the last was my favorite...pepperoni & black olive.

Here is Teresa (Scott's wife), Tanner, and Adrea (2 of their 3 kids).

The Moon's stayed at their hotel and we got to stay at the Hotel Robertson!  Breana & Andrew were also with us on this fun adventure.  Unfortunately Matt's parents were out of town, but they graciously let us take over their house.  A plus was that everyone got their own bed!  Matt and I went to the temple Saturday morning and then when we were done, we grabbed the rest of our family and hit up the Pepperidge Farm Outlet, Gossner's Cheese factory, and Sonic!

It was a good day!

We are so proud of Scott and can't wait until they get approval for their sealing!  It's been a long time coming, and I know they are so anxious for this wonderful event!

Love you guys!!!!

Hoppy Easter

We had a wonderful Easter this year.  

My brother Andrew & niece Breana were able to stay with us & celebrate.

Here is Ben Easter Morning.

He was peeling his hard boiled egg and it pulled out a heart shape.  He was most excited & needed a picture taken.

Matt, Andrew,

Ben (hating the sun), Belle, and Breana in their Easter best.

I love my family!

(Ben is still not liking the sun)

Ben & Belle made the bunny cake.  I cut it out and put it together and Belle frosted and decorated it.  I love this Easter tradition!

Belle likes to "shake it" in her new Easter skirt!

 Getting ready for our Easter egg hunt!!!

Ben thought it was great to wear his Easter bucket on his head...he said he looked like a crayon!

 Hunting for eggs!!!!

Like the spray paint on the grass???  I'm in the process of painting our dining room chairs.  When they are finished I will totally post them =)

Just a hunch that Matt is sucking it in!  Totally makes me laugh!  He is such a goofball!

Nice face Andrew!

Nice one Belle.

Can no one be serious except for the 7 year old???

Well we hope you had a wonderful Easter.

We were able to talk about the Resurrection and how much our Savior loves us.  I am so grateful for my loving Savior and the peace and happiness and hope he brings to me.

Breana Turns 20!

 My niece Breana flew in Wednesday from California.  She is staying at our house for about a week and then I am driving her up to Rexburg to go back to school.  Well, Wednesday happened to be her birthday...she is 20!!!  Where has the time gone???  So I pick her up from the airport, never mention her birthday =)  We pick up Matt from work and then we start heading down to Provo.  She has no clue.  She thinks we are heading up to Ogden.  I was worried that she would catch on that we were definitely going the wrong way when we passed the BYU stadium, but nope...clueless!

We get to Andrew's apartment...she still has no clue we are doing anything special.  She looks around and says, "This place looks kinda sketchy."  Ha ha!!!!  Then there was Andrew!  Surprise Bre!

I thought it would be fun to hang out in Provo and take her to dinner with Andrew and Mallory.  it was fun and she was surprised.

Not the world's greatest surprise, but it made me happy!

They are dorks, and I love them...

Mallory, Breana, & Andrew....We went to Red Robin's...YUM!

Matt & Me =)

And of course Mallory texting Joshua.  Aw young love ;)

It was a good day, yummy food, and fun people to hang out with.

Happy Birthday Bre!!!!!!

Family Pictures

So I know these were taken back in November, but I realized that I never posted them =)

So here they are for your viewing pleasure.

 Belle says she likes the above photo because it looks like she is walking like a mom...I don't know what that means, but we will go with it =)

Whoever said my 7 year old was allowed to look like he is 12 is fired!

I absolutely loved the balloons!

Sometimes my big ideas don't always work out...but this time it did!  I love these happy colors!

 I have a few of these "Jumping off the chair" pictures.  And with each jump Ben's face got more and more ridiculous!  I was laughing so hard, which only encouraged the little monkey!  I might just have to frame them because they make me happy.

Can I just say that I think she is totally beautiful???  I told Matt and Ben I will be supplying them with sticks to beat off the boys!

Dreamy blue eyes...sigh...

Oh Ben!

So I hope you enjoyed them.  Someday I will actually get them printed and on my wall...my mom's too.  That will be my goal for next week!