Home Sweet Home

At last, I have some pictures of our new home and the progression along the way of it being built! These are for all those people who asked me to post pictures on here. It has been so fun to see our house being built from the ground up. The kids loved to visit it, especially Caden with all the dirt to play in.

We sold our home back in October. We closed on our home while Clint was in Europe for 3 weeks. We weren't sure when the close date would be, so he left for business and I stayed home hoping that everything went through with the sale fine. It did and I signed all of the papers for both him (POA) and I. I packed our house by myself and had everything set and ready to move on Sat. Oct 17. Clint came home on the Friday night before to a packed up, bare wall home. We moved in with my parents and they were so generous to allow us to store all of our stuff at their house!

We ended up moving into our new house Jan. 2nd. We took a couple of weeks after we closed to paint, install blinds and ceiling fans. Though we miss living at my parents house, we're glad we have our own place now that's not too far away! Caden was so sweet and did not want to leave Grandpa and Grandma's house. He had the hardest time and shed a few tears more than once. The first time we went back over after we had moved Caden's response was, "Oh Mom, you did tell me we would come back over!"

I am happy to say that I feel somewhat settled now. We still have a lot to do when it comes to decorating items, but we've got the necessities all covered. Clint has been awesome and spent so much time on his "honey do" list. Though we miss our old ward and friends, we really love everything about the new home! The neighbors are great, the ward seems awesome and the neighborhood we just love!

breaking ground

framing has begun

Lexi in her room

Caden in his room

sheet rock

stucco

drywall

almost there!

so excited about the open kitchen

Home Sweet Home!

Peter Piper Fun

My sister in law invited us to go to Peter Piper Pizza with her and some friends. We got to go on a tour of the factory and see how they make the dough, shred the cheese, how they get soda in their machines and where they wash dishes. The kids thought it was really neat. They then got to make their own personal size pizza and the best part was playing games of course!

Merry Christmas

Christmas was a thrill this year! The kids could not wait for Christmas to arrive. Lexi asked every day if she could just open one present and then she promised she wouldn't ask anymore. Of course I did not grant her her wish! The week of Christmas was crazy as we were trying to finish up last minute shopping, do some final touches on our house before we moved in, get rid of some bug that we all got and kept us home not feeling well for a day, and keep my husband happy by letting him got to Sunrise opening day to enjoy some snowboarding!

We did get through it and had such a fun and relaxing Christmas Eve and Christmas. On Christmas Eve we went to lunch at the Olive Garden with all of my family. It was a fun thing to do and of course I forgot my camera. We then lounged that day and read the Christmas story and let the kids open their new pajamas that night.

Christmas morning was extra fun this year because we were at my parents house and they got to wake up and do presents with us. We spent the morning doing our gifts and then my brothers came over and we exchanged gifts with them and had lunch together. Later in the afternoon we headed to the Albright's for gifts and dinner. I love the holidays and am so thankful to be blessed with a wonderful family on both sides! Without them it wouldn't be the same!

"Okay already! Can we go downstairs yet?"

checking out the stockings

Lexi really wanted Santa to bring her a Leapster and it looks like he came through.

One of Caden's favorite gifts is his own basketball!

Grand kids Party

My inlaws throw a fun party for the grand kids every year right before Christmas. We have a delicious dinner and then do some fun activities for the kids. The kids love the pinata! It's definitely a hit. All of the cousins also have a book exchange which is fun for each of the kids to get and give a book that they pick out for a certain cousin. We also listen to the Christmas story told by Chris. It was kind of crazy this year and I think we ended up with 5 out of 21 of us in the room by the end of the story. Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Albright for such a fun evening!

Caden taking a whack at the pinata

Lexi giving it her all

Check out all the good stuff! Lexi came away with candy and $8 which she was so excited about.