finally the after pics

Alright well its been a long road and of course always more to do, but we are in our house and feeling rather settled and making it home. We attempted to do a lot ourselves, but soon realized that was not going to happen, between me being pregnant, Cj busy with work, and us living at his mom's wanting to move into our house sometime in the next year. We gave up and hired most of it done! I am so happy we did. It is so much better than we would have done, and we got in within a couple weeks. So i don't think the pics really show what we had done, but you get the idea. We did all new paint, carpet, doors and frames, knocked out a wall and new hinges and knobs in the kitchen. Everything we did we love and are so glad we were led to do it.

before living room

after we knocked out the wall in living and dining room



other side of living room and entry after pic



before: ugly wood color and dirty

so much nicer cleaner white, new knobs and hinges, )someday we'll get new counter tops too)



eating area, washed out and dark


after, color and i love it!



before master bed (nasty pink color)


after, an ash gray actually.. again i love it


before lizzy's wing... so nasty i thought we would gut this bathroom, but it actually just needed paint and some scrubbing

new paint and faucets in bathtub


nasty bedroom: couldn't even open the closet, so much junk and YUCK!

Now it is sweet little Lizzy's room and she loves it


before 70s style family room

soooooo much better (except of course that CJ reminds me daily we now need a big screen) well its on the list!

We'll i have to admit the stress of picking colors and carpet was high, but goes to show you can pray about anything. I did and i know thats why it all turned out as good as it did. Thanks to my parents and sis for helping clean and work on little projects! Thanks to Cj's mom for pushing us the extra mile in many cases and for all those that encouraged and supported us.
Now we need visitors!

Birthdays, Christmas, New Years...

After waiting all year, at every birthday party we went to and having to pretend it was also Lizzy's party so we didn't have to deal with a tantrum....finally Lizzy had her 3rd Birthday and was so happy. She sang Happy Birthday with everyone else as she waited to blow out her candles until they were all done. She of course loved having presents to open and friends to play with. She loved being the star of the day.

Lizzy and Claire eat there cupcakes, or at least the frosting (which is Lizzy's favorite)


Lizzy with friend Gweneth Kolb and new bouncing ball, which she LOVES and is getting really good at.

Lizzy opening her presents and so excited.

The party gang, minus a twin

We did a pancake brunch for her party and enjoyed every bite.
So for a whole year, Lizzy was way into birthdays, now this year i think she is going to take Christmas on all year. She has us sing Silent night, and Rudolph every night to her still. She asked for her christmas books to read just about every night. We'll have to see how long she carries this on. But as for Christmas, we had a great holiday. We kept it simple with just moving and everything, but Lizzy was so fun to watch and learn this year. She really understood more of what was going on this year.

The closest we got to a family pic or sending out christmas cards...maybe next year.

Lizzy got new dress up princess clothes

Mom and Lizzy with presents from my bros fam. Love them thanks!

Lizzy and Cj opening stockings from santa

Lizzy and Cj making, or eating cookies for santa.

And Finally CJ's birthday! I got him a BBQ for his big 28! and his brother was nice enough to come help him put it together.

We wasted no time and had a family BBQ/Birthday party that night.



CJ's a natural, i'm so excited he is willing to cool now!!!

A little fam birthday party on his real bday, with his favorite, Reese's Christmas tree as his cake, we kind of over did the sweets over the holidays, so we simplified this time.

And the end of the year brought the news of Cj's Grandma passing away. While we are sad to loose her for now, we are overjoyed at the reunion she is having with her husband (who she lost over 35 years ago, and both her children preceded her in leaving this life. She really missed her family and often mentioned she was ready. She was 94 and lived a great life. we are so glad we had her down a few times over the holidays and even got a cute pic of her and lizzy.



And now we are on to the new year. We actually did go to a party and stayed up till midnight, which is amazing for me, i'm a 9pm kind of girl. But we had a good time and Lizzy even slept in a little the next day. We have started out the new year with beautiful weather, a great reason to live in san diego, its been 75 to 80 for most the week and we love going outside and working in the yard. Cj and i have been called to team teach the 9 year olds in our ward, which we both love. and we are anxiously awaiting baby boy!

Wow time flies

Well the last couple months have just flown by. With Thanksgiving, Christmas, Birthdays (lizzy's and CJ's) and the start of the new year i just can't keep up. And not to mention all the stuff we've done with our house. Which i promise pics are coming soon.


But i just had one of those nights, parents dream about so i thought i'd take a moment and brag. Lizzy was such an angel tonight as she told me, "Mom you are my best friend in the whole world" and "I love you very much" in the same night. She volunteered to get her pj's on and then got her own snack and water for me and her. Then after watching shrek together for a little while she said she was ready for bed. (Now to fully appreciate that you need to know she usually kicks and screams all the way to bed, its a fight to brush teeth and we have to sing a billion songs.) But she was such an angel.... Makes a mom proud, and allows me to see she can really do it.
I sure love her and even though i complain alot about her tantrums and whining, I just love her fun and loving personality when it shines through.