It is FINISHED!

After 2 months of having contractors in and out of our house, we can finally say that our basement is FINISHED!

This is the toy room, pic taken from the bedroom door (the double doors are hiding the furnace and water heater)!

Toy room, taken from the stairs

bedroom, taken from the bedroom door!

Bedroom closet. The shelves in the middle are adjustable!

The Bathroom... taken from the bathroom door.

More bathroom (love the shower and the shower head)

Another pic of the vanity... made of knotty cherry wood, a super pretty granite countertop, and the drawer handles and knobs are SOOO pretty!

The toy room shelves. All of these toys were on 3 book shelves in our family room!

The storage room, view from the door.

Our Deep Freeze freezer fit perfectly under the stairs so I didn't have to sacrifice any shelf space.

The shelves behind the wall in the storage room!

And finally the stairs going down into the basement...

I am soooo happy that we are finally finished with this project. If anyone is looking for a contractor to finish their basement, I know a really good one!! Everything turned out really good and he only went over budget by $500 which was a plumbing issue we had along the way! I couldn't be more happy/excited for this to be finished. We'll be playing lots down here and our guests have the nicest bathroom in our house!

May re-cap of goals and June's Goals

For May my goals were:

1. Exercise in some way every day for 30 minutes!

2. Deep clean the bedrooms (during the first 2 weeks)

3. Clean the main floor and family room area (during the last 3 weeks)

4. Put away ALL of the Laundry ON laundry day!

5. Take pictures of the things we do each day so I have something to post on Mommy's School Blog!

6. Smile and LAUGH every day!

Let's just say that I didn't exercise nearly as much as I wanted to, cleaning was a joke, and Laundry well lets just say it's not my best thing to do! Taking pictures of the things we did didn't happen because most of the month was spent watching cartoons, due to the tonsils coming out! I did smile and laugh every day... that's the most important thing for me, since that's how my kids know that I LOVE what I am doing each day!

For June My goals are:

1. Continue exercising!

2. Deep clean everything (no excuse on the contractors making a mess, since he'll be done today!)

3. Put away the Laundry... don't get behind because it just will not happen if I do!

4. Play outside with the kids

5. Show my love for my family in other ways than what I have been doing!

It's going to be a busy month, but it's going to be a good month! I'm really hoping that this will be the month that I can actually accomplish everything on my list!

More Basement progress

Can I just say that I'm in LOVE with the way the basement has turned out! We still are not to the finished part, but we are really close!!!

This is the Bedroom (I was standing in the doorway)

And this is the view from the bottom stair looking into the toy room!

The painting took 3 days, white trim and tan walls! The carpet was done in 3 1/2 hours tonight (from 7- 10:30pm)! It is sooo soft and really, really, really NICE! Can't wait to post the final pictures we are only a few day out from being done!

Kaylin's T&A Surgery

At 9am we arrived at UVRMC (the hospital). Kaylin was so excited to go play with "the blocks" until they called us back.

After they called us back, she had to change into a hospital gown, which she called her jammies! She kept saying I like these jammies. Dora is in the picture because she was able to bring a comfort toy with her and she said that Dora needed to have surgery too so she had to come so she could get better!

The nurse brought in a princess crown and a wand made with a pencil and erasers!

She was one happy girl and didn't seem very nervous at all! Around 10:30am, she was given a medication to calm her down, she got really funny (kind of like a drunk)! She just laid on the bed and watched "Disney Junior" Channel until they came for her. When they came for her at 11am she didn't even care that she was leaving mom and dad (that's how great this medication is)!!!

The Tonsils and Adnoids were removed and the doctor said that she had some pretty good sized adnoids too (we already knew her tonsils were large)! For those of you who don't know what adnoids are... I looked it up. They are located just under the nose in the mouth and this helps control breathing(If they are huge snorers then their adnoids are probably enlarged!).

At around 12 noon, Kaylin came back to the post op room! She woke up from the anesthesia in the recovery room, crying for her mom (yes I know her Mom... for those of you who don't know she is a HUGE Daddy's girl and always wants him)! I was able to climb up on her bed and hold her there. The first thing she said, was "Take this off" (holding up her hand with the IV in it) too bad that couldn't happen quite yet. She began drinking her apple juice that the hospital provided after surgery and did quite well. She kept telling me that she wanted to go home, but that couldn't happen until we made sure that she would keep the juice down.

She kept dozing in and out of sleep, but that didn't matter as far as us coming home. All that was required was that there wasn't much bleeding (she had NONE) and that she could drink fluids and keep them down (she never has thrown up, YAY!)!!!! Just before 1pm, Kaylin said loud enough for the nurse to hear that she wanted to go home. The nurse took that as a sign that she was ready, so we dressed Kaylin then came home!

A few hours after we got home, Auntie Sarah (my cousin) came over with these beautiful flowers and bear for Kaylin with a balloon! Even though Kaylin just laid on the couch and didn't move after Sarah brought it over, she really was excited! In fact, last night before I could get a picture of the bouquet, Kaylin asked to sleep with her new bear, which she named "Sarah."

Kaylin is recovering well, she doesn't really like the Tylenol or the Antibiotic, but I can usually get it in her! I plan on giving her the Tylenol with Codine, for the next week until she can sit up for longer periods of time, and has a desire to eat more.

I'm so proud of her... It's no fun being sick and she is handling it like a trooper! Kaylin is loving her diet of Ice Cream, popcicles, juice, and pretty much whatever she has he desire to put in her mouth. this morning in fact, she has nearly finished a cup of chocolate milk!!

Studio 5

As many of you know I absolutely LOVE the show Studio 5, so when they asked for something Alisa Bangerter could re-purpose I posted that they could use my baby food jars and they took them. Because I volunteered to let them have the jars, they gave me a ticket to the show and could bring a few friends with me.

You can watch the show by visiting ksl here.

After the show, I got the baby food jar chandelier that Alisa made using the jars that I donated! And of course I had to pose for a picture with Brooke and Darin from the show!

This was such a fun experience, yes I was nervous, but it was FUN!!!!

Mother's Day!

For Mother's Day this year, I was given this...

It's a Pandigital Novel eReader, and let me tell you I am already in LOVE with it! I have nearly every book imaginable at my fingertips and for someone who LOVES to read, this really is a GREAT new toy to have. On this new toy, I can also go on the internet and check and reply to emails! The books that I get are from Barnes and Noble, so those friends of mine who have a NOOK we can lend books to each other! Can't wait to learn all of the features, and once I get the Android part of it figured out, then I'll be able to download Android apps!

Thank you Ryan, Kaylin, Evan and Ashlyn for this wonderful Mother's Day present (and Birthday too... since it cost so much, LOL)!!!

We have doors and more...

This is the closet for the furnace and water heater! On the right of the closet we will have built in shelves for the Toy Room!

Doors from the toy room to the Bedroom (on the left) and Storage Room (on the Right)!

Closet doors in the Bedroom!

Built in Closet organizer

Pocket door to the Bathroom

I was wondering what he was going to do with the window and I was SOOO excited to see this when I went downstairs! It's going to be so pretty in that room and a perfect feature to the bedroom!

2 walls in the bedroom have the baseboards done. All of the doors but the pocket door have the trim on and the trim is done around the window!

I'm really getting excited now (as if I wasn't before)!!! Things change nearly every night so it is really fun to go down and see how much closer we are getting to being finished! We only have about 2 more weeks, and I can hardly wait! I have a garage FULL of the wood for my shelves (built in the storage room and in the toy room), all the trim for the entire project, the glass shower doors, tile for the bathroom (and all that goes with that), and finally ALL the paint with supplies for that!

Miss Ashlyn...

This girl is SOOOO busy... I don't think she EVER holds still!

Since learning to army crawl, she finds herself in some rather sticky situations! She manages to crawl under the little tables, in tight spaces and sometimes on things too!

And since she is mobile, she manages to get to Evan and steal his toys, which he doesn't like too much!

But... no matter what kinds of things she does, she's still just as cute as ever!

I really LOVE this picture because Evan has his hand on her back!

Princess

Kaylin was invited to a Birthday party for a little girl in our neighborhood, and on the invitation it said, "Princess Attire is Encouraged!" Imagine the delight that came from Kaylin when she learned that she could wear her princess dress and could get all dolled up for the party!

Kaylin really had a good time at the party!!