Since its a New Year-Here's a little of the last one:

We couldn't resist buying Keifer this suit in the Spring. By the time he turned 3 (Oct.) we had to try it on.

We are in the same ward as Keith's Grandpa Massey-who has a similar suit. I must get a picture of the 2 of them. It is uncanny-and super cute.

I love Preschool field trips. We have a great co-op group and we do lots of fun things. This was a field trip to Lowe's. The kids made fire trucks. They sound real. I had 2 of them (Joe's and Keifer's). I found myself looking out the window a lot in the days that followed. The kids are really cute, and it was a lot of fun.

Keith shocked a lot of us when he decided to start swimming in April every morning early. He's not a morning person. He wasn't a swimmer. He prepared for the swimming portion of the Dino-Tri.

I can't remember his time, but it was pretty good for a beginner. It was a rewarding experience for him and we are proud of him for it.

The sun was shining right into the camera, so I didn't get a good picture of the course.

Here he is coming out of the water. YAY Keith!

The boys joined the Powerhouse Boys Hip Hop Crew this summer. They had a blast! They had some friends in the class, which made it extra fun for them.

Left to right we have: J-Man (Josh), J.C. (Joe-he loves his name and will answer to it.), and Danger Boy (Matt). Matt earned his name because of his crazy tricks.

They were in one of the parades and enjoyed every minute.

Joe will dress up in his hip-hop clothes whenever possible. They even performed during the County Fair. I only wish I had the time and money to have them in the group still. Not often do you get to have 3 siblings in one group together-doing something they enjoy. 

Keifer had to dress up for the parade, too. He's did his hat, all by himself. Here he's holding up his "bling" for the camera.

If you see the boys, you'll have to ask to see their "grinders". I just saw Matt do some over Christmas, I didn't know he'd gotten so good.

Joe graduated from his 1st year of preschool in May. That was an experience. He was bribed weekly with 7-11 trips with his dad if he went without being dragged-and he had to participate at preschool as well. This was a momma's boy that needed the experience. He was the only boy in the group with 5 girls. He didn't seem to mind that, he just wasn't a fan of preschool. He's in his 2nd year now and what a difference! He's grown up emotionally and looks forward to going. We haven't had to bribe him yet!

I posted this picture because I have pictures of Josh crossing his legs like this, too. My grandpa Gardiner and some of my brothers do this as well. Its always fun to see genetic traits trickle down through the generations.

The following pictures are what it looks like when a 3 year old is left unattended with marshmallows.

Gross. Note to self-monitor all marshmallows that are handed out to Keifer.

Josh broke his arm rip-sticking. Its a funny story. He and his cousin had just been discussing how they had never broken any bones....ooops. We taught him how to knock on wood after that. ;)

The funniest part is that it was on a very smooth driveway where he hit 1 little rock. He usually rides it in our driveway, which is not smooth and has a lot of gravel everywhere. Goes to show-you never know what will get them.

I think this was chocolate cake. Every kid goes through a phase where they wear most of what they eat. I'm still waiting for Matt to grow out of that. hee hee.

It looks a little like Keifer is sad here.

He's not. He'd been talking to me and knelt down like this on the kitchen floor. I tried talking to him, because he'd just been chattering to me. All I heard was snoring. I had to take a picture. Who falls asleep like that? Keifer used to-ALL the time. Random places, random times, random positions. 

Matt and Keifer had their tonsils and adenoids out the end of September. That was a crazy week nursing 2 children through that. We survived! Keifer no longer snores very much or falls asleep in random places. Didn't realize how much his big tonsils wore him out. They were so big he couldn't talk very well. We didn't know that is why he didn't talk very well until the day after his tonsils were removed. We heard him talk more in that day than we thought possible!

It made a huge difference for Matthew and me as well. When Matt gets sick now, he's a tolerable individual. He doesn't get near as sick as he used to. He also talks a lot more! I don't find myself yelling at him every day (not good for anyone-I know, but it was how things were). I find myself completely enjoying a boy that I used to dread dealing with. Most of all, I recognize the little boy I remember that he was when we brought him home from the hospital. 

I've heard others comment on what a wonderful and fun laugh he has. Its always been there, no one has seen his smile or heard his laugh much the last 7 years. Matt is back. He smiles all the time. Who knew tonsils created such problems? I'm thankful for the promptings of the Holy Ghost that told me what the problem was. 

It looks like I have pictures of Keifer's b-day, but not Joe's. Keifer enjoyed every minute. Joe turned 5 this year and had a party. That was a good time for him. The boys are growing up and we are continuing to enjoy them. We are looking forward to a fun and enjoyable year together.

Happy New Year!

I Got In Trouble

Well, not really, but Keith told me I needed to update the blog. I looked at him in shock, because I didn't know he cared...or checked!

So here's something new-for Keith. He wanted to see the updates on the bathroom and bedroom.

Extra Bedroom

Our bathroom

I can't remember how to turn pictures once they are uploaded.

Because we moved doorways-we had to redo the hallway.

We installed can-lighting. After we put the closet door in, it wouldn't open all the way because of the light that hung down. Since we had to redo the hallway anyway...can lighting!!

Primed floor and walls in the bathroom. Keifer was able to use it before anyone (the potty chair).

More extra bedroom pictures.

Base coat of paint in bathroom. Ooh-its getting exciting!

I had the base paint on all ready for my 2nd coat, when "someone" decided to do a little extra work around the surround. Urrgh!

The hall is finished! (With the exception of molding-we'll get to that-someday)

I painted the surround, again.

The color I wanted in the bedroom-I put in the bathroom. Once it was on the walls, I heard Keith say it looked more blue than he thought. I told him it was always blue. Oh well, I love both the bedroom and bathroom! Keith moved the duct work in the bathroom. I know, he's amazing. Now the bathroom doesn't get too hot with the air blowing right in your face-its just perfect!

My brother, Rick, helped Keith do the tile. I love it and they did a great job. I'm not just saying that, either.

A toilet! Finally, Keifer isn't the only one who gets to use the bathroom.

Vanity! We ran into technical difficulties here. We planned on using the original sink top. It didn't fit the new base. We measured width, not depth. Oops. Oh well, the new one is really nice.

Bedroom/Sewing room. Still lacking molding and closet shelving (again-we'll have that someday). But there is floor and its quite nice (Thanks, Dave!)

My picture isn't that great, but its laminate and Keith installed it all by himself! Apparently he wanted me to help, but it didn't look like he needed it, so I did other projects. Oops. :)

Here's my bathroom with the trim and towel hooks. Oh, and Nerf guns, I thought it was suppose to be mine and Keith's bathroom, but oh well. I can handle a Nerf gun or two. We are TOTALLY enjoying the new bathroom. 

I finally hung a picture in my bedroom! Grandma Lila didn't have a place for it in her house, and it just looked like it belonged in mine. Thanks Grandma! 

Now maybe I'll get out the dog house since I have some updated pictures. Keith always enjoys hearing comments about the house, so feel free to comment away!

Trying to Return

My account on our computer went all freaky on me a few months ago, and I stopped using it. I haven't been able to pin down my IT Specialist to finish fixing my problems so I could blog. I'm giving up on the IT guy (for my computer problem only-I would never really give up on him.) I'm hoping to update the blog now that I've got myself up and running a little on my own. Good thing I've hung out with my IT Specialist a bit, or I wouldn't have known where to start. Posts of projects/events are coming soon.....

I Should Have Known It Was Love....

I ran across my yearbook from my Junior year. While reading through the signatures, I found this one: "Peggy I haven't talked to you in a while. Lets do something this summer. Keith III"

This made me laugh SO HARD! The love of my life had such a way with words! Hee heeheee.

We really aren't lazy....

If you've driven by, and thought "My, Oh My!"
Because the weeds outside are so high.
Please don't fret, we haven't gotten to that yet.
I have lots of pictures for you to see,
Of the things that have been coming to be.
An extra toilet and sink have been more desired,
Than the neatly groomed yard that keeps getting higher.
We'll do what we can, but don't get too excited,
Little by little, we'll get the yard righted.
(Cheesy, yes, but what can I say.)

You may remember the cobble rock fireplace and woodbox...

We decided to remove it.

The boys were great help.

Now it looks like this. I thought sheetrock dust was messy-mortar dust and chunks are WAY worse.

We gained about a foot in room width. We haven't decided what we are going to do yet (gas or electric fireplace) . But we are enjoying the extra space for now. We removed it in the first place because it was falling apart.

Last year I textured the hall downstairs, and painted. This year, we took it all down:

We had to take it down so we could readjust doorways, etc. We also had to change our light fixtures. We put in small can lighting because the hall closet door didn't want to open with the regular light fixture ;)

Now I get to re-texture and paint all over again!!!

Keith moved the doorway to this room about 2 feet into the room. 

Because we decided to make this closet bigger...and also the bathroom.

As we tore into the bedroom and bathroom, we found mold-which we figured was there. So we ripped everything out, including carpet. It didn't look bad, but it had a funky smell. Eew.

Keith had to move plumbing-with the help of someone who knew what they were doing, aka-Keith's Dad.

Because we put a full tub and shower. 

 This is what was there before:

My pictures are a little out of order, but Keith had to get a jack hammer to get to the plumbing.

Along the way, there are little details, like changing light switches to ones that don't drive me crazy.

We put mold resistant sheetrock in the entire bathroom-to help prevent further issues. Putting up the ceiling was REALLY hard. I don't want to do that again.

The heat vent was in a spot that blew right in your face when you washed your hands-totally miserable. So, we moved it. In the process, we fixed the venting for the upstairs bathroom. It wasn't vented right and never got warm. Now it does!!!

We aren't finished yet. The bedroom looks pretty much like the bathroom. (since I didn't get a picture of the bedroom).

Can you seen the nook where I will have shelves in my bathroom? YAY!

Next we will work on sanding, priming, painting and finishing. All lots of work, but we feel like we are to the easy part now.

Other random improvements:

I had 2 of these in my family room. It always made the lighting awkward, so now we have these:

Oh, so much better!!! I can see and they look much prettier to me. 

Anyway, as time, money and energy allow-we get the projects finished. These projects began when there was still snow on the ground-as a result we haven't quite made it outside yet. And we are getting anxious to have a 2nd bathroom again.