Why is life so crazy?

Halloween!!! One of Kevin's favorite holidays. We had a great time dressing up. Kevin was a hockey player. Maddy was Cinderella. Geneva was Tinkerbell, and Alex was a soccer player. I also dressed up as a soccer player, and Alex was basically my Mini-me.

Well, since the last post, we have bought a house. Not only bought, but gutted and put in a brand new kitchen, took out 2 walls and patched the floor. We have learned lots (how to: demo, drywall and tile being some of the major ones) and are loving our own space. Below is the ripped out kitchen:

A week or 2 after we moved in both sets of Grandparents came to see the new place and spend Thanksgiving with us. It was a crazy, fun, busy week.

After they all left we had a chance to decorate our new home for Christmas. A few days before Christmas we had a surprise. SNOW!!! We even had enough to build a snowman (which we did).

We had an awesome Christmas. We opened our stockings and presents from Santa Claus then went to church. After church we came home opened our presents and had lunch and naps/quiet time. What a wonderful day! Kevin was able to take a few days off of work (a total of 11 days at home, NICE!!!) to spend with our family. We went to White Sands to sled. We had a few bumps and bruises, but we got the hang of it and had a great time.

We spent New Years at home. It is not really safe to be out on the roads, ya know what I mean? We watched a movie that Kevin got for Christmas, The Adventure of Clutch Powers. It is a Lego movie and the kids (and Kevin) LOVE IT!!! After we got the kids in bed we watched Captain America which Kevin also got for Christmas. (Which is an AWESOME movie!) It was awesome to just be at home with nothing to do but hang out and have fun as a family. However, now that the new year is upon us we are about to kick it into high gear again on the house. We are going to finish the cabinets (endpieces and laquer) this week. During the week we will prep to paint and paint in the next few weekends. Then we will really start to work on the yard. Kevin is excited for this part. I am hoping to catch some of his "yard work" enthusiasm (catch it? It is a disease right?). We are also planning on having a home warming party sometime in February or March.

A brief update on the individuals in our family:

Kevin: Working hard on many fronts. He works for the city 40 hours a week. His calling as ward clerk keeps him busy a few nights a week and of course his never ending "honey do" list.

Maddy: Loving school!!! Learning more and more words all the time. She is also very interested in taking some type of lesson soon (ex. swimming, dance, tumbling) she hasn't decided yet.

Geneva: Sad to say, I think that girl is done napping. It is waaaaaaaaaaay to much of a fight and she falls asleep so well at night when she doesn't nap. When she does nap, she stays up and pesters us until 9 or 10 pm. She loves playing outside. Good thing we have a backyard now. She is my wild one and I love her to pieces!!!

Alex: I think he is ready to potty train. Hooray!! Maybe I will have to take one or 2 days and not work on the house and just get the job done. So much money to be saved from diapers and wipes. Yup.I just need to do it. He is a great little boy. He loves being outside also. One of the few understandable words he says is "outside". He also frequently says: dog, please, more, momma, dada, manny (Maddy), uh-oh, sit (he has a hard time staying on his bum), paci, hi, and bye-bye.

Kendra: Working on the house, keeping the house clean and keeping the kids happy take up most of my time (just like any other stay-at-home mom).

Hope you all are doing well. It is almost a guarantee that if you are reading this we are missing you and wishing that we lived closer!!! Love ya!!!