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Framing is going SO fast  - we can hardly believe it!  What you are looking at is the basement - pretty hard to tell what anything is unless you are us, but just use your imagination:)

Mi Casa

Our home is Centerville is buzzing right along.  They started digging May 3rd and we are ready to pour tomorrow - woo hoo!!  Here are some pics - they don't look like much, but it is definitely looking more like a house everyday to me..  We also met most of the neighbors last night and they are SO nice - which makes us all the more excited!!

Master Cindy

My cute sister Cindy just graduated last weekend from the Masters Program in Mankato Minnesota!!  She is awesome if you ask me and I am SO proud of her.  She got her Masters in Experiential Education - which I could never remember the name of, but she is hoping to teach or work at a college with it. 
My mom and dad and I flew there together while Spence stayed with the kiddos and Brent met us there that night.  We had SUCH a good time together - it has been so long since it was just us "kids" with our parents.  There was a TON of laughing and just a great time all around.  We met all of Cindy's friends which are SO nice and we also ate some really good food. 

My mom and dad had to fly home on Sunday morning, so Brent and I went to Cindy's ward and met alot of people there and they just LOVE her there and are going to miss her so much - but who wouldn't, she is such a great girl! 

After that, Brent had to fly back to NYC and Cindy and I began our trek home in her loaded car.  We drove from Mankato to Lincoln Nebraska, where my cute cousin Michelle and Chad and their little baby Carson live.  They had yummy cinnamon rolls (my favorite) waiting for us and it was SO fun to see them.  We were able to stay the night with them and then the next day, we drove to Cheyenne Wyoming.  I have never driven across the midwest before and I have NO desire to do it again, unless of course it was with Cindy.  It is SO dead and I swear nobody lives in Wyoming or Nebraska - there are just farms and tiny towns.  At least Nebraska was pretty though - rolling green hills, but in Wyoming it is still winter - there wasn't one green thing around! 

In Cheyenne, we got a hotel and went on our trek to find a "boot".  Cindy found out that they put these huge cowboy boots all over town and they are funny and random, so we had to get a pic with one.

The next morning we drove the rest of the way to Utah and it was the longest day, but we still managed to have a great time.  Lots of - ahem, singing the wrong words to songs by me and laughing by Cind!!  Thanks for letting me tag along Cind - luv you and CONGRATS!!!

Things just got a little SHINIER for Kendalyn...

She got BRACES!!  I can't believe it!  Well, actually, I can if I take a look at those teeth (poor girl has my genes), but she just keeps getting older and older.  She got them on yesterday and has a super sore mouth.  Anyone who has had braces knows that dull, ache that I am talking about - it stinks! 

I still think she looks super cute, but of course I am biased and at least she has cute hair and not a "mushroom" cut like I had during the braces phase - (I still think my mom was super mean to do that to me:). 

Apparently, it is super cool to get braces in the 3rd grade, so Kendalyn has some serious status right now - which totally cracks me up - so hopefully the "metal-mouth", "brace-face" names aren't cool right now.

Enjoy the action shots!!

A "before" shot!

Almost ready to go..

A really funny "during" - poor thing!

Dr. Brown - he's actually our Stake Pres. too.

All done - let the FUN begin!!

SOLD!!!

Yes, we did sell our house to the Highest, I mean ONLY bidder, but still!!!  We actually went under contract about 38 days ago and signed last Tuesday - YAY!!  We are now paying rent on this home which doesn't feel any different except when you stop and actually say that this house is someone else's now - weird!  And then I think about the weeding and lawn mowing I am doing for them too, lucky them:)
So, we rent until move-out day which is the 1st week of June.  We have been back and forth about where to live and finally decided to ask Spence's parents.  They have an actual basement apartment that we lived in about 8 years ago and they are very kindly letting us live there for the next 5 months!  Yes, it is tiny - only 2 bedrooms and 1 bath, but it has a separate entrance and a full kichen -  just think of the lack of cleaning I will have to do!  Anyway, we are all very excited and construction on the new house will hopefully start next week - yikes - it's all going SO fast!
Packing - here I come....

Tripity Trip!!

We had such a good time in Mexico - loved every minute of my laziness as well!  Really, I did work out the first 3 days and then I just sort of stopped and decided to do the lazy thing and I loved it!!  We started off at the Secrets Maroma  for 4 days and then went to Zoetry for the next 3 days and both reorts were SO amazing.  We had stayed at the Secrets Maroma last time and loved it and Zoetry was new for us and we loved it as well.  Their rooms don't have numbers, they have names.  Ours was Isfahan - I didn't remember it until the 3rd day there:)  All of the staff were so funny about us not drinking alchohol - especially at Zoetry because it is such a small resort (so small that the waiters usually memorize all of the guests names - impressive no??) that they started joking around and saying that they put extra shots of tequilla in our drinks or saying "oh, no alchohol right?" - it was hillarious!  Spence went diving one of the days and snorkeled a few times, but I really just stayed on the beach or by the pool and read my books - I got through 3 full books - that's how lazy I was!!  Spence even finished one whole book which is amazing for him - he never sits around an reads books.  My favorite drink on the trip was the Bahama Mama - SOOOOO GOOD!!  I think it is a mix of Pina Colada, Strawberry, and orange - amazing!  The food was amazing at both resorts, but again at Zoetry, it was just SO good!  The desserts there were fabulous too - hmmm.. see why I am having such a hard time thinking about cooking dinner tonight??

It was so fun just to hang with Spence and relax and not worry about anything for a week - we are SO glad that Cindy and my mom (especially my mom) took the kiddos and made it possible for us to even go!  Thanks you two!!  Here are some pics!

No More of These...

But.. before you congratulate me, I am still buying these:

Still, I would much rather have the Pull-ups because it means we are THAT much closer to being done - woo-hoo!!

Luckily, he has got the whole "poop" thing down.  That has been a BIG deal to us.  That was hard for my girls, but Grady seems to like "pooping" on the big potty - just not "peeing" so much.  Just so you all know, thanks to all of your great advice vs. the sit or stand method - I have gone with the stand.  I just couldn't figure how to keep the thing from spraying everywhere when he was sitting - yuck!  He actually stands on a stool and leans over and puts his hands on the top of the tank - it is quite the site.  We have yet to test it in a public place and that is TERRIFYING to me!

Wish me luck, we're not there yet...

Can't Wait!!!

Cancun 2008

I'll be back here in a month - IT CAN NOT COME SOON ENOUGH!!

Proof..

I have always wanted to be a "cool" mom who goes all out for every holiday, but I'm really not.  I do try a little, but not much effort goes into it and sometimes I even forget about the holiday (except Christmas) until the night before.  But this Valentine's Day was MUCH, MUCH BETTER!  I wanted to take pics for proof, but all I got was the dinner - which was very fun and cute with a little help from Spence. 

On Saturday night - we "Heart Attacked" the kids' doors.  We just cut out a bunch of hearts and put them all over their doors - again, not much effort and not very original, but they LOVED it!  On Valentine's Day, Spence got up and made heart-shaped pancakes, and they looked so cute (no pics because I was at choir practice and Spence doesn't think in blog terms).  Later, for dinner we decided to do Hawaiian Haystacks.  Now, I know you are wondering where the Valentine part of that is, but we took the rice (see pic) and put it

into a heart cookie cutter mold and voila - Heart Hawaiian Haystacks!  We also had sparkling PINK juice in fancy goblets and RED candles in heart-shaped votive holders!  We made heart sugar cookies with PINK frosting for dessert and they had a blast cutting out tiny, and huge hearts (again, no pics, but really can you blame me - we were busy with all this effort:)!

So, later on in life, or in a month or so, if they decide I am not very "cool" - I'm just going to whip out the old blog and show them what is what... 

My New Guilty Pleasure...

http://gofugyourself.celebuzz.com/

This is currently my new favorite website - I litterally laugh out loud when I read this every day - yes, I do read this every day and it is SO funny!  I know it might be mean to laugh at the celebrities, but really it is all about what the author says - she is so witty, and really, their clothes are usually a bit much.  Anyway, check it out and you might just get hooked too - (well, only if you really like Us Weekly and other celebrity mags and shows like me) - just keeping it real.....

For Cindy..

Grady found his cute little tie in a drawer the other day and decided he needed to wear it to church. He said "I have tie like Daddy". I had to actually go buy the white shirt to go with the tie since we tend to go a little less fancy to nursery. He looked SO dang cute in it and the girls just had to have a picture too - so there you go Cind - this one's for you....