Could not resist

So this post is solely for the purpose of the picture. Andi has been sick since last night and coughing up a storm, so she's been really fussy and miserable. But for a few moments tonight Thad had her distracted and happy as they ran around playing hide and go seek with all the lights in the house off and their head lights on. I had to turn the light on to take this, but I also got some fun video of the two lights running round giggling. Yes, Thad was wearing one too ;)

Merry Christmas!

okay, so here is the picture of the dinning room with the table and stuff back in it.


And here is Andi all bundled up for caroling Monday night. We went with my parents and Walter & Stef, and Tara &Jacob and the gang, and Renee & her kids. Quite a few of us, but we sounded fabulous and the kids had a great time. And Andi really likes her hat and gloves. She has also gotten in to Frosty the moonan lately. Yes, moonan is how she says it. I love that she'll watch all the old videos from my childhood, it's so fun to sit and watch them with her.

I am just about done with my shopping already. I just have a couple small things left to get for Thad but that will be done by today. I have been finished with everyone but Thad for a couple of weeks now, but he's so difficult! And its a good thing too b/c it's about to get crazy around here. We are having Christmas with my moms side of the family this weekend and it keeps going from there. Should be fun. If I don't blog before, have a wonderful Christmas!

Tagged

6 things you probably don't know about me

1. I don't have either of my useless organs (tonsils, appendicts)
2. One of my favorite parts about teaching 10 year olds jazz is that I have a legitimate excuse to listen to cheesy teenybopper music. We rock Hannah Montana on a weekly basis ;)
3. I have a bizarre stomach twitch, literally. Quite often actually my abs contract over and over like I'm doing crunches, but I'm just sitting on the couch, and I can't make it stop. My theory is I have a sub-conscious obsession with having a flat stomach and somehow my sub-conscious can control my ab muscles.
4. I could eat cold cereal every meal of every day.
5. I can become overly involved in a good book. If it's really good nothing else happens (cooking included) until the book is done. Luckily for Thad and Andi I'm a fast reader and the books don't last long ;)
6. My ultimate dream career is to be on Broadway. Phantom, Les Mis, Wicked, I don't care, I would love to be in a fabulous show and perform night after night.

Now I Tag Kels(though I don't think there are 6 things I don't know about her), Tarin, and Callie.

Yay, the tile is done! Thad and Sam started working on it Friday and finished the grouting last night. It looks really nice. I'm not allowed to put the table or anything back in there till Thad gets home tonight so I just took pictures of the floor itself. I'll post new pics when the room is actually put back together. The first one is obviously just the floor, and the second is our little transition because the tile for the dinning room wasn't the exact tile in the kitchen, but it is close.

And this one is just a picture to show off the very cute new bows I just ordered for Andi. I love them! My friend Mandi makes the "Lovely lady bug bows" and they are fabulous! The picture is not all that cute because Andi all of a sudden hates the camera. This was the only clear shot I could get because the rest of the time she was shaking her head and yelling "huh-uh, no!" and here she is right before she throws herself face first on the ground and rolls around.

I got the Christmas bug this weekend and we put up all of our decorations. Lights, the tree, everything! I love it! It seems like Christmas never comes fast enough, and goes by all too fast.

phew!

I love "vacations" but they are always so tiring! This weekend we went down to Rialto for an early Thanksgiving with my moms side of the family. So Friday afternoon Andi and I drove up to meet Thad in Fillmore, and then we stopped in to see Sean and Ashley on the way. We have missed you guys! It was really fun to see them even though we were only able to stay for a few hours. Bedtime calls for Andi. Anyway, I am bugged that I forgot to bring the camera in and take a picture with them but we'll get that next time ;)
Saturday morning, too early for my liking, we got up to take Andi and Walter to see Thomas. They have this Thomas day at the train museum down there, and they charge people too much money to go ride a life size Thomas train. But the kids loved it and even though we didn't stay very long it was a fun little adventure.

And this is the kids in the hay maze. It was the perfect size for them and they chased each other around for a while. Yes, they are actually running in this picture, looks speedy huh ?!After our Thomas excursion we went back to my Aunts to have Thanksgiving dinner with the whole family. Thad was very happy to realize that we actually get 3 thanksgiving dinners this year. Tis the season to gorge.
Sunday after church and a pot luck luncheon, we headed back home. Thad's parents came to hang out for a while and then we all crashed very early.
Since it is almost Thanksgiving I would like to say I am very thankful that Thad only has 3 days of work this week and that we will be tiling the dinning room this weekend! And by "we" I don't mean me, but I'll post pictures when it's done.

Trick or Treat

So I was really not in the Halloween spirit this year. I had no plans of dressing up, wasn't taking Andi trick-or-treating, nothing. But a few days ago Thad found out my Dad and the Young Men were putting on a spook alley at the ward party. That was the end of my plans. So I dug through the dance costume box with my mom and found an outfit that Andi could actually wear, which was very surprising as Kelsie and I both started dance at age 4. Andi is not even 2, and the fairy dust costume is a little baggy, but it stayed on her and she loved her "pretties".


I went as the blue fairy from Pinocchio. Originally I was going for Merryweather, you know the feisty blue fairy in Sleeping Beauty, but the hat I attempted to transform just didn't turn out as I had planned. Thad of course was planning on wearing that awful mask, but luckily you are not allowed to wear masks at the church party, so he settled for painting his face and carrying the mask around as a severed head, acting as the tour guide through the spook alley.


oh, and I would like to say thank you to everyone who recommended the twilight series. I started twilight last Thursday and finished Eclipse this afternoon. I can't believe I have to wait an entire year before the next book comes out!

Well I know most people in So Cal have been worried/cursing the fires this last week, but me, I was cheering them on. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't hoping peoples homes would burn down or anything, but the fires closed the road to Fillmore which meant Thad got 2 days off this week! yay! And he couldn't seem to sit still so we got a couple of projects done in those two days as well. We put new lighting in the kitchen. The first pic is proof that I was actually helping to cut drywall, and pull wires and all that, plus it is a before of the awful light fixture that was in there before.



And here is the after with the fabulous recessed lighting.



We also managed to sell that wood burning stove in the front room, yay! So we took a trip to lowes last night and got the electric fireplace that we have been looking at.



We had Bulkeley Fam dinner at our house this last Sunday and here is a cute Pic Tara took of the munchkins.

Pumpkin Fun!

well, we carved Pumpkins last night and Andi was a big help ;)



Although it was a little scary as we lit the candles to take pictures with our Jack-O-Lanterns Andi kept trying to stick her fingers in the eyes and mouths. But they were very exciting as far as she was concerned.

Big girls make big messes

Well this morning Andi proved yet again how much she can do in a very short period of time. I was putting my make-up on for the day when my phone rang, so I pulled Andi out of the bathroom with me, shut the door(I thought) and ran to get the phone. Approximately 3 minutes later I went back to the bathroom to finish getting ready and when I opened the door this is what I found.


Yes that is Mascara that she rubbed all over her face and clothes and the floor.
I did get the curtain in Andi's room done, well I think my mom did most of the work, but they turned out really cute I think.

Big Helper

So yesterday I was watching Corinne's baby girl Kate. She is 4 months old and very sweet. I was worried about how Andi would react to A)a baby in the house, and B) me holding another baby. I was surprised to see how well she took it. She actually wanted to hold the baby herself, and play with the baby, and give the baby all of her toys at once. She was very interested in Kate and kept going into the bedroom during her nap to try and wake her up. Here are a couple of pictures of Andi trying to hold and play with Kate.

Finished!

I haven't posted updates of our house in a while, but we are finally finished with phase one. All the painting is done and all the trim is up! yay! I still have finishing touches to do like window treatments for all the rooms, and to finish hanging pictures, but the hard part is done. so here ya go.
This is our office before

and this is the office after

Here is Andi's room before

And After


The Front bathroom before

and after


Our bedroom & Bathroom before



and after

Curious George

I was writing out my lesson plans for dance today and Andi was, I thought, playing nicely with some toys. Lessons plans finished this is what I found in the front room.
And that goofy little face, is what has become of Thad trying to teach Andi how to smile for the camera. Like most people, the posed smile is not nearly as cute as the natural one. Anyway, I still am not exactly sure how she got the marker, as the drawer we keep them in is above her head. It was open, so I know she got it out and that it wasn't laying around, but she must have just rummaged her hand around without being able to see in the drawer until she found a familiar shape.
Andi also loves G&G Bulkeley's dog Rusty. She loves to pet him, and throw things at him, and sit on him. . . he's a very tolerant dog luckily.

Mandy!

Okay Mandy, if you are reading this, I went back through most of my old posts and could not find a comment, so I couldn't find your blog, and I don't know your last name now so I couldn't look you up through the Stake website, and I couldn't even find you on stalker net(byu) ;) so you need to comment here so I can see your blog and you need to e-mail me so we can get in touch. dncrgrl82@Hotmail.com.
Sorry to everyone else who might have been excited at a new post, you will all have to wait till I get those dang polka-dots done in Andi's room so I'll have cute pictures to post ;)

another year

I don't like to post without pictures, but I've been slacking in the picture taking area lately, and although there has been stuff going on, I have no photographic proof. But I'm posting anyway.
This last weekend was Thad's birthday. We had a BBQ planned for Friday night, which ended up having to be re-scheduled because he got called back to work 30 minutes after he got home. Which means he had to drive all the way back to Fillmore and didn't get home till 10. I was pretty ticked at his boss at that point. But We had the BBQ Saturday instead, and aside from the wicked heat, it was a lot of fun.
Today was my first day back at the dance studio, and I have to say it didn't go as badly as I was predicting. My leotards were definitely stretched to the max, but I wasn't as out of it as I thought I would be. In fact I think I had those 10 year olds fooled into thinking I knew what I was doing. I even stayed for a little while for the jazz class I used to take, and it wasn't bad. I may be changing that thought tomorrow when the soreness sets in, but it felt really good to be dancing again.
Andi is talking like crazy now. I think I am still the only one who really understands what she is saying, but at least we are communicating now, it's helpful. I am getting her room painted and polka-doted this week, so I should have some new pictures to post soon. In the meantime I still can't get enough of the Wicked soundtrack, and I've finished all 7 of the Harry Potter books so I'm looking for some thing new to read.

Wicked

I just had to say that if you have not seen wicked yet, you need to! Thad and I went last night and it was absolutely fabulous! Amazing! I could watch it a million more times.

Before & After

Sorry it has taken so long for this post, but we have been busy! in the last 3 weeks we moved in and completely unpacked(in 3 days) and then started with the "improvements" So far we have finished the front room, dinning room and kitchen. Which has included paint(walls and ceilings because these people thought the room should be one giant blob of color, completely tearing down painting and putting back up the trim and baseboards, a couple new fans, and of course new candles and cute stuff ;). So here are the pictures, enjoy!
Kitchen Before (yes I would call that McDonalds yellow, and yes it is on the ceiling)

Kitchen After

Dinning Room before(what you can't see very well is that the walls are lime green)

Dinning Room After

Front Room Before


Front Room After



It's a good thing Thad and I can see the potential in things huh?!
I don't know if I've mentioned yet everything else that has been going on. Thad is now teaching the 14-17 yr olds Sunday School Class, and I am teaching 6-8 yr olds in Primary. SO far so good. Thad also started his new project in Fillmore and commutes Monday & Wednesday but stays the night Tuesday and Thursday. He has started playing golf a little because the house the company rented for those who wanted to stay a couple nights a week is on a golf course and they get to golf for free. So he, at the "suggestions" of the bosses, has gone with them and picked it up pretty quickly.We bought him a set of clubs last night as an early birthday present. And the only news from my end is that I am going to be teaching dance again at the studio this year. I'm teaching a ballet, a jazz, and a ballet/tap combo, and seeing as I haven't danced in 6 years it should be quite interesting at first ;)Wish me luck!

The many adventures of us

Okay, fair warning, this one is going to be long. But a lot has been going on the last few weeks! Things got off to a bang when Kelsie and Cameron flew in almost 3 weeks ago and the whole family was able to be in the temple together when Bobby went through for his first time. It was really a sweet experience to have us all there together for the first time. Then of course we went to the traditional Claim Jumper's Lunch afterward and ate more food than is healthy, but it was totally worth it ;)
That next Tuesday we took Family pictures in the back yard. Here are a few samples.





We spent that next week grocery shopping and packing for our beach trip. Thursday however Andi decided to get tonsillitis again! That makes 6 times since January thank you very much. And just to restate, the second our insurance kicks in I'm having those buggers yanked out. So we got off to a bit of a rocky start, and we did manage to have 6 of the 12 people at the beach house sick with one flu or another, but other than that we had a great time. We stayed in a house about a block from the beach in Morro Bay. We walked too and form the water everyday whenever we wanted, checked out the shops and just had a nice relaxing week/break from the heat. Andi loved the water, well, mostly she loved throwing wet sand at people, but her first real beach experience was a good one.





This is one of those quarter rides along the shops in Morro. She loved it, but kicked and screamed like crazy when we took her out of it.



Andi and little Walter are starting to get along pretty well now. He's more mobile and can fight back now and I think she recognizes that. It was fun watching them play all week. This is them at the Atascadero Zoo. It was only 20 min from the house and though not very big, it was perfect for the little ones, and Kelsie who all of a sudden seems to be a big zoo fan.



And this is at a little restaurant we ate at that had really good french dip sandwiches.


Once we got back in to town the following Saturday Thad and I finally got to sign papers for our house so we are going to get to move in this week! Finally! SO once again I'll probably be MIA for a while, but I'll be back with pictures of our house painting progress.