Carpet craziness...

Now that our new loft is finished, I've been bugging Steve to let me replace the carpets in the upstairs bedrooms and on the stairs. The carpet is just the cheap builder's grade and is looking quite worn out. So, we finally picked some new carpet and when they called to schedule installation for last week I said okay. Little did I know that our life was about to get super busy!

So amidst all the company who came into town to see Steve set apart for his new calling, we were trying to empty bedrooms and closets.

And rip out baseboards...we've been slowly replacing all the baseboards in the house.

Seriously, it felt like we were moving! There was so much to clear out and all the rooms and closets had to be emptied.

So on Monday morning, we said goodbye to half our company and stacked all the mattresses in the loft.

And the installers went to work. They worked hard and fast!

The kids and grandparents did great being confined downstairs. I think there was so much going on they were just excited to see it all happening!

I can't tell you how nice it is to walk on the new carpet!

The kids loved it and Brityn said she even put her pillow on the floor to sleep on the new carpet instead of her mattress!

Love, love, love the new carpet! Thanks Steve!

Pioneer Days...

We enjoyed last weekend at our stake's annual Pioneer Day celebration. We had extra family in town, so they got to enjoy it too.


Friday night's dinner was really yummy and the kids had fun running around. It was so hot that the icecream pretty much melted off the stick if you didn't eat fast!

The jump house is always a favorite for our kids.

Ryder wasn't too happy that there were so many kids bouncing him around.

But, Brityn had no problems jumping and having fun.

Kendyl always likes to have her face painted.

And the games are always fun.

It was fun taking the kids around while Grandma held on to Sawyer.

And the fireworks were fantastic! We all had lots of fun and look forward to this every year.

He's our bishop...

On Saturday, the 17th, we had a phone call asking us to meet with our stake president. Let's also preface this with a week full of sick kids, including Ryder who had been throwing up all morning. But, you just don't have many excuses when the stake president asks you to come in. So we packed up the kids, sick and all, and went to the stake center. The following pictures were taken the next day after a special meeting which divided 4 wards to create a new ward. These pictures just happened to visually tell our story of meeting with our stake president.


Hello President. We're all here with smiling faces on despite a week full of sick kids.

We sure do enjoy our kids. They are cute, even when they are sick.



Was there something you wanted to ask us, President?

What? You want me to be the Bishop?

That's pretty neat!

Are you sure you want me? I need counselors tonight?

Thanks for letting me have the Stake YM's President and Stake Activities Chairman as my counselors.

Lets have a prayer. A lot of them.

I think I'm starting to feel a little sick now too.

The new bishopric.

Wipeout...

Our kids love to watch the show Wipeout. They will watch the episodes mulitple times and if you give them a choice of what to watch the answer from all of them is "Wipeout". So yesterday as we were walking down the stairs, I told Ryder "Come on, let's go." And he said, "Ah motivator push me ah back!" Then later, at dinner, Brityn included in her prayer, "Bless that Wipeout can come on and that it can be new and bless that we can watch it." So I guess it will be a summer full of the wipeout zone, sucker punch, and big balls. Just watch out for the motivator or it just might help you down the stairs at our house!

4th of July fun...

We had a fun holiday weekend with Grandpa Jerry coming into town. He comes and does fireworks just like when I was growing up. We always had the 4th of July at our house and all the neighbors used to come over to watch the fireworks show. Along with some great barbeque-ing, I also played my violin for our patriotic concert on Saturday night too--it's always a favorite.



After church, and some food and relaxation, we started to get out the snaps and sparklers. The kids were very excited to get things going.







This year Ryder was throwing the snaps, or stepping on them.


Our driveway was literally covered with them!


Brityn was a little cautious with the sparklers.


Ryder gave it a go, but seemed to like the snaps better.


Kendyl did sparklers all night long! She was a pro and they were definitely her favorite.





Brityn liked the view from the back of Grandpa's truck.

If you look closely you will see that Kendyl is covering her ears because she does not like big loud screeching fireworks. She can't even handle the big fireworks at the park. We have to leave before they start or sit in the car with all the windows rolled up to watch them. She was ready to be finished with the noisy fireworks and go back to doing sparklers by this point!





Sawyer slept through most of the fireworks, which meant I got to enjoy them. Unfortunately that also meant I got to stay up with him later!


Our neighbors are a nice couple and they have the cutest dog. Ryder loved the dog, Brityn did not. She confined herself to the back of the truck or a chair to stay "safe".

Ooooooh, aaaahhhhhhh.

Glowing in the dark. It was a fun weekend--thanks to Grandpa for doing another awesome fireworks show this year!