Besides all of the house projects, we have had a FUN week too!

Monday--Joseph's b-day party (in West Jordan)--Way fun and the girls loved their Little Einstein bags and treats! The meat Matt made was delicious and the Rocket cake was adorable! I especially love that Joseph only wanted to invite Mariah if she would play nice with him--I think he has a lot to do with that consequence. The girls got Joseph a star wars storm trooper character. He was pretty excited, though he didn't know what it was. But James sure did and when I said that we had a hundred star wars characters at our house James stopped breathing for a minute! Josephs new Little Einsteins room was awesome--you did a great job Margaret!

Wednesday--James' b-day party (in Lehi)--Way fun again! Emily did a fun treasure hunt for items for their lunch (juice boxes, cheetos, fruit snacks, etc.). The Lightning McQueen cake was pretty awesome too! The girls got James a little star wars lego set. They made party hats and had a lot of fun playing together!

We went home only to hurry and pick up our new furniture--it took three loads and I had 5 minutes to get ready for Bec and James' Sealing before I had to pick up the babysitter. Fortunately police weren't around the roads I took and we made it to the temple with time to spare. The sealing was beautiful--I loved when they brought in Grace--and she was beautiful! The dinner afterward at Chiles was also a lot of fun--I love going out for dinner because you get so much time to visit because you spend so much time waiting!

Thursday--We showed the house to two people (reason for getting the new furniture the previous day). Then Aubrey and I had a picnic at our friends house--it was REALLY fun! We were going to meet at the park, but it was so cold that we went to her house, spread a blanket on the floor and ate there.

Friday--Shopping for organizational things for the house and for fabric to recover a kids couch from Grandma Hansen's childhood--it's going to look great (if I get it done!) Jon watched Mariah and Jonathan while Aubrey and I went shopping. It took way longer than we planned--Jon developed an incredible amount of empathy for stay-at-home moms!

Busy Days!

Wow! I didn't realize all that I can get done when I put my mind to it! This past week has been so busy! It all started with deciding to sell our house. Then we decided the bathroom needed painting and that the kids room trim needed re-painting. After doing that, I thought the caulking in the bathroom needed redoing to match the nicely painted walls. Well, that turned out so nice that we decided we should paint the other bathroom upstairs. Then we were noticing how oddly the hallway downstairs was painted--the trim is oppisite of the two rooms connecting to it--checkerboard-like--so next we painted that--and boy it took forever because you have to be careful not to get any paint on the grout on the floor and the trim around the doors and baseboards was dark green (in the living room and kitchen the baseboards are the light cream color--kind of weird) and we were painting light cream over it--so it took some doing to cover the green. But it looks GREAT now!

While I was painting the hall Jon was replacing the dead microwave that is over our stove (we have been using a regular microwave on the side). Wow! I had NO idea what a project that was going to be! We couldn't get that old microwave out for anything! It seemed to be wedged up into the wall between the cupboards. We were pulling and hanging our bodyweight on it to try to get it to move--no success. We googled it to see if there was another way--screws we didn't know about commecting it somewhere (we had already moved the screws on top that seemed to be the only thing securring it). We found our exact microwave--GE Spacesaver 1986--and lo and behold! We were doing exactly what it said! So now we figure it is just jammed tightly between the cupboards and we just have to get it out. Well, Jon started pounding at it and taking it apart--I got a little worried about radiation exposure as panels started coming down. Then he started undoing this screw--the microwave budged! There was another screw on the other side and one more screw that were all holding the microwave to studs in the back of the wall through the upper vent. If he hadn't taken it apart up there--we would have never found them. The microwave came out nicely and easily--a little too easily--after that! Boy it was a beast too!

The new microwave took quite a while to install. 9:50 pm came around and Jon realized he needed some bits for his screw driver to finish installation. He made it to Home Depot 2 minutes before it closed and got what he needed.

The first picture is the kitchen with the old microwave--doesn't the new one look GREAT!--and now we can have more counter space!

This is the other half of our kitchen--I love our huge kitchen!
Meanwhile I was finishing painting the hallway which I then realized that the hall had a wall that connected to the kitchen--I now have a painting project for tomorrow. The kitchen! I didn't realize the hall and kitchen "off-white" color was PEACH! With the nice new creamy-white hallway--you can REALLY tell that our kitchen is peach and green, not cream and green!

Well, here are some pictures of the changes in our house! It has been really nice not only to paint, but to organize and get new furniture and finish sewing curtains I started when we moved in! All of the things I have wanted to get done since we moved in (well, not all) I have been getting done this past week!

We got new furniture--yeah! I made the curtains that are in my room--I think they are cute.

I repainted the trim in the kids room--the previous owners had painted half of the baseboards green and only the bottom half of the baseboards were white--they must have been in a big hurry!
Well, that is how our house is coming! Now we can post the pictures on some house selling sites!

My Profile Picture

Some of you may wonder what in the heck is that a picture of? Well, it is not the best picture, but it is a cow in a field, tipped upside down. The top caption says "Really, I'm Fine. . . ". My mother-in-law had a pillow that was embroidered with a similar scene. She has since lost the pillow, but when I saw it, I thought that was so funny--and it describes most mother's lives--people ask how you are doing and everything may be in shambles, but we say, really, I'm fine, though it is probably obvious that we are not fine! Anyway, my mom had seen this pillow when we (Jon and I) were first engaged. She loved it and wanted to find one. Finally last Christmas I decided to go ahead and design and make one for my mom for Christmas.

This picture is of the pillow I made.

We are selling our house!!

With Jon's new job being in Salt Lake, we decided that rather than spend $300+ on gas each month and having Jon gone more than 10 hours each day, we would move closer to his work and use that gas money on a larger house payment and get a house with a yard. So we have put our townhouse up for sale. We have spent today organizing, touching up with paint, and cleaning. Mom Robertson came and helped--even though she was pretty sick--thank you so much Mom--you were a lifesaver!! We got a storage shed this morning and Jon took several loads of stuff to help our townhouse look less cluttered and larger.

We still have several things we want to do and then we will take pictures of the rooms and house and add those to our listing on Craig's List. We have had four inquiries about it and one person came to see it this evening. We are also going to list on for sale by owner sites and we are going to make a nice flyer to put outside infront of the house. Anyway, it's been pretty crazy around here! We found several homes in Murray and Taylorsville that are similar to Jeremy and Rosannes (split-level) but smaller, that we really like, but we have to sell before we can buy! Well, I hope you all have a great General Conference weekend!

April Fool's

Well, I am not a fan of April Fool's because I hate to have tricks played on me--and I learned early on in our marriage that when I played a trick, I got ten times a trick played back on me! Well, Aubrey and I decided to play a trick on Dad--pretty much what she did before--mess up Jon's DVD's. Only we did it really good! We mixed them up and even switched them around in the cases! I am a little worried about the repercussions of this. I guess we will find out what happens! Jon's family is avid April Fool's people! It's one of his mom's favorite "holidays". She always did several tricks--like sending a birthday cake to the choir room when he was in high school choir (it was not Jon's birthday) and the cake she ordered was actually a frosted cardboard box, parking his sister's car on the grass by the stairs of the seminary building, getting the janitor to open his locker and fill it with stuff, put peanut butter on the steering wheel of his car (and then do it again later), putting corn syrup on his bathroom door handle (and continually putting it on throughout the day), putting gelatin in the toilet bowl so that it sets (clear color), I could go on and on--Jon's family is ruthless when it comes to April Fool's, but he knows I don't really like it--though I am easing up a little, I want to play some jokes, so I guess I have to take some!

YEAH! We got a job!

Well, we have been given two job offers and have made a decision! The pay is much better so we are excited about that, but it is in Murray, so we are not excited about that. We will have to see how the commuting goes and then decide if we want to try to sell and move or stay and commute! We love our ward so much and have made so many good friends that we would be very sad to move. And we just bought this townhouse, so we aren't sure it would be good to sell so soon. But I hate the thought of Jon being gone so much of the day! The nice thing about moving would be that we would be in the middle of both Grandparents! So we will just have to see! And for those that are wanting to come play--we will have a play day soon! Jon will be starting April 14th--we will definitely have a playday that week, here at our house! It sure has been nice to have him home though--I am REALLY going to miss his help and the "vacation mode" we have been in (sleeping in, staying up later than we used to and watching movies and having popcorn more often than we used to or probably should--I think I have gained ten pounds these past two months)!! But I am also really looking forward to be back into the swing of things and having a better schedule and being more on top of things and of course--inviting friends to come and play, since I can't have Jon to play all day, ha ha! Thanks to everyone for all of their prayers, love, and support in our behalf--and for that secret "Easter Bunny" who brought us food, treats, and adorable Easter clothes for the kids!