Zoo Pictures

Back in April, I took the girls to the zoo along with my mom, my sister, my Aunt Linda, cousins Andy and Erin, and Erin's son Josh. We had such a blast. I had forgotten my camera and so I borrowed Tamara's. She finally got a chance to post them online so here they are.

Tamara, Ashley, Amelia and Grandma Corinne by the white alligator

Ashley and the giraffe

Josh, Andy, Erin, Ashley, Tamara, Linda, Grandma and Amelia with mom and baby giraffe

Tamara, Grandma, Ashley, Linda, Amelia, Erin, Josh and Andy

Amelia, Tamara, Andy, Josh, Ashley and Grandma.

Andy is a kid at heart so this is completely normal behavior for him.

Tamara and Amelia on the train

Memorial Day

Memorial Day was filled with the usual festivities for us this year, except we really did not appreciate all the rain. We headed up to Ogden in the afternoon to place flowers on headstones and stop at Farr Better Ice Cream. Luckily it stopped raining just before we got there so that we could enjoy story telling around the family plot. Amelia had a great time watering all the flowers even though they had already been drenched by the rain. Farr's was just as crowded as always but that is what is great about it. They were out of my favorite flavor, licorice, so I had to compromise with raspberry cheesecake which was pretty good. The weather was perfect to eat our ice cream outside without having it melt faster than we could lick it. After ice cream, we headed to Bountiful for some yummy food at my Uncle John and Aunt Connie's house. It is really hard to have an appetite after just eating ice cream, but of course we still stuffed ourselves full of everything available. Amelia and Ashley had a great time playing with their second cousins, Sam and Mary, and so they really didn't eat much. It was a really fun day and also great to carry on some old traditions that I grew up with.

Occupying our time

I've been a little absent from the blogging world lately because every spare moment of my time has been spent searching for a new vehicle for our family. I have wanted a Durango for the longest time. And it would be even nicer if we could get one before my family reunion/campout that is coming up this weekend. I didn't think that we were going to be able to find one that worked for us, but it happened. After visiting used car lots just about every day last week and practically living out of our Neon, we found a 2004 Durango that fit just about all of the requirements that we had and we bought it on Friday! It was such a happy day for us. Amelia loves sitting on the third row way in the back which I thought was a little weird but I decided not to argue with her. Ashley can even crawl in and out on her own thanks to the running boards. The girls are still trying to get used to the new rules for the Durango like not climbing over the seats to get out and not eating in it. Even though it is used, we are trying to keep it looking as new as possible for as long as we can. And I am most excited about going camping this weekend in it and hopefully having room for all our gear and then some.

Don't turn your back...

Before putting Ashley down for her nap today, I called Guy really quick to chat with him while Amelia and Ashley were playing in Amelia's room. Well, apparently, Ashley found a pen and thought that it would be really fun to color all over her legs. I think that she really liked the way that it looked. Or maybe it was how it felt that she liked. Crazy girl!

New Family Pictures

It has been about a year since our last family pictures so I figured that it was time to do it again. In the past, Amelia has been the stinker who doesn't want to cooperate with the photographer, but this time it was Ashley. She has always been a mama's girl but some times are worse than others. I wanted to be able to get pictures of the girls together but she wouldn't leave my side. And even for her individual picture, she was sitting on my lap. So these pictures are as good as it gets. And yes, that is a book in Ashley's hand because she did not want to give it up and I figured that it just wasn't worth the battle. I would rather have a happy baby than a baby who's hands are empty.

Breaking Concrete

I could have titled this post "My Wonderful Husband" because that really says it all. Right after work yesterday, Guy rented a jack hammer to start some major concrete breaking for our relocated bathroom. He worked on it until about 9:30 last night and then took a break until 9:00 this morning. From 9:00 until noon, he worked on finishing the holes in the basement which now include one for the new tub, one for the new toilet, one to cap off the old toilet, and one to cap off the drain for the old shower. What a job and what a ton of concrete!

After lunch he moved outside to break up a concrete pad on the side of our garage that had sunk about 2-3" and it really needed to go. We think that there were some drainage issues that caused a big sink hole for the concrete to fall into. I told him this must be our can of worms that we are opening with all our construction. Hopefully, we will be able to fix it right so that it doesn't happen again.

Goodbye Harvest Gold Fridge

Guy was chatting with a member of our ward on Sunday, Mike, and found out that their fridge was on its way out. Mike and his wife were trying to figure out what they were going to do while their fridge was in the shop getting fixed. Luckily, we have this beautiful vintage, harvest gold fridge that came with our house that has just been sitting in our basement since we moved in. Guy offered it to Mike and today, he came and picked it up! Yeah!! It is a little bit weird not having the fridge there anymore, but now we can spread out the toys a little bit more so I am really excited about that. Now I just need to convince Guy that the punching bag needs to find a new home.

Progress on the Bathroom

Yesterday was a very busy day at our house. Guy was busy all day working on the bathroom and I worked out in the flower bed ripping out black plastic that is supposed to prevent weeds but wasn't working for us.

First for the bathroom. Guy has been trying a few different tricks to break through the concrete (most involving a sledge hammer) but nothing has worked too well. So, we are planning on renting a jack hammer to do the tough work but Guy wanted to get some dirty work done by cutting the concrete with a diamond blade to outline where the jack hammer would be doing its work. Another thing that needed to be done to make jack hammering easier was to do more demo on the old bathroom. We got the toilet out of there and took the shower door off the shower but then Guy discovered that the shower insert wouldn't fit through the door to get it out of there. So, he put his handy Saws-All to work and cut the shower into 5 pieces. I think that was about his favorite part of the day. He also tore off some sheet rock and some of the old linoleum.

Demoing the old shower.

The beginnings of a hole in the concrete.

Guy with premature grey (or maybe just a lot of concrete dust).

I spent a couple of hours out in the dirt to try and prepare my flower bed for flowers. Before we moved in, the previous owners did a quick fix in the flower bed and just covered it with black plastic and then 1"-5" of dirt. The biggest problem though is that there is a giant morning glory infestation under the plastic that is constantly breaking through. There were also some tulip bulbs under the plastic that have been able to find their way up. I figured that I would never be able to get a handle on the morning glory until the plastic was gone. Now I'm a third of the way done and I'm hoping for good weather so that I can finish this week and then get some flowers planted.

Sick Kids

It makes me so sad when my kids are sick. They don't sleep well and they are pretty miserable all day long. Amelia has decided that she doesn't like any of the medicine that I give her and she says that it hurts her mouth. So, I guess that she is just going to have to suffer through all the coughs and runny noses. Ashley hardly has an appetite and has fallen asleep in her highchair after lunch twice this week. We have already polished off one box of tissues and there is no end in sight. I'm trying to get the girls to just take it easy but that is easier said than done.