Big brother Landon

   Wyatt has turned into a pretty fussy, sad baby.  I feel so bad for him and wish there was something else I could do for him.  When we put him to bed and he's not asleep yet we end up going back into his room (Landon's room too) many times to give him his binki. 
   A couple nights ago I was making one of those trips back into their room to help Wyatt.  I walked in the room and looked at Landon's bed.  He wasn't in it and it was weird because their room is pretty small and for a split second I wondered where he could be.  Then I looked up and he had climbed up on the side of the crib.  He was trying to help his crying baby brother, so sweet! 
   I asked him if he was trying to help Wyatt and he said he was.  Awe, it was so cute!  I think these two boys will be best buddies in a couple years. 

Kayleigh getting ready

   Sunday mornings are a little crazy at our house.  Our church is at 11:00 with Sacrament last.  I am one of two Relief Society pianists which means when it's my time to play I have to be to church by 10:50.  Michael is at the church for meetings on Sunday morning so it's all me.
   With the addition of Wyatt to the family let's just say it's a marathon event to get me and the kids breakfast and then get us all ready.  Kayleigh and Landon both have issues with getting dressed right away in the morning.  It's like they need a few hours to warm up to the idea of getting ready.  This is not helpful on Sunday mornings, or on the days Kayleigh goes to pre-school. 
   Anyway, this past Sunday the best thing happened.  Kayleigh decided to surprise me by getting ready.  It was awesome!  I had gotten her clothes out and given them to her in the bathroom and told her to get dressed.  (I do this all the time and she doesn't do it.)  A few minutes later I passed by the bathroom and get what I saw?  Kayleigh was all dressed, standing on the stool in front of the mirror, brushing her hair out.  She'd gotten her headband out that went with her outfit and my old body spray that I'd given her.  It was the cutest, sweetest, most helpful thing ever! 
  I was running late and just the fact that I didn't have to nag at her for another 10 minutes telling her to get dressed saved me time.  I praised her up and down and who knows, maybe it'll happen next week.  I love you, Kayleigh, and it makes me so happy when you are such a good girl. 

Happy Easter!

     Today is just beautiful outside!  We hope you are all having a wonderful, relaxing day.  I wanted to get some pictures of the kids and quickly realized that it was next to impossible to get them all to look good and smile all at the same time.  However, after I almost had a meltdown, we got some good shots.  :-)
     On a more spiritual note, we are grateful to our Savior for his life and atoning sacrifice.  It's neat to know that we can be resurrected one day and live with our families forever if we live worthy.  We are thankful for the gospel in our lives and for the meaning and happiness it brings.  Happy Easter!

Wyatt's blessing

     At the end of the month on the 25^th  we blessed Wyatt.  Two other baby boys in our ward were blessed that day so it was a very well attended Sacrament Meeting.  We had a lot of our family there to support us that day.  Michael did a great job with the blessing.  Wyatt didn’t make a peep during it so that was nice, too.  I heard from some that stood in the circle that he was awake during it and just looked up with big eyes.  He is so sweet! 

     After church we had people over to our house for a light lunch to celebrate with us.  Again Wyatt was very good and slept through most of his visitors.  He looked so cute in his blessing outfit. 

     We had lots of help with food and the lunch was delicious.  It was fun to see our friends and family.  Luckily it was beautiful weather that day and we were able to have tables and chairs set up outside.  I would have felt bad if we’d had to jam everyone into our little family room. 

     His blessing day went really well, I was very pleased.  It was fun to have our house projects done for people to enjoy as well, it was a bonus.  Thanks to everyone that helped and made it such a special day.



Our house project

Kayleigh helping to paint, she thought it was so fun.  The next morning when she walked in and saw that it was done she was very sad because she wanted to paint some more.

The living room before 

 Michael hard at work, poor guy didn't get much sleep that week.

 The old, ugly, gold fixture above our entry.

The old, gold fixture above the table.

The family room after.

The living room after.

The new fixture above our entry.

The new fixture above our table.

The new fan in the family room.

     Ever since we moved in this house we have been wanting to update/re-do some things. We've now lived here for almost 5 years and still haven't done many of the things we've talked about/want to do. With Wyatt's blessing day fast approaching, we thought it would be fun to actually complete some of these projects. Well, we got a little in over our heads to say the least.

     The first big project was to complete the fence outside that got blown to pieces in the December 2011 wind storm. I was really proud of Michael because he wanted to fix it himself. He didn't know exactly what to do so my dad helped him and he learned quickly what he needed to do. I know it would have cost a lot of money to have someone else come and fix it so I am very grateful for his willingness to learn and do it and also to my dad for helping and lending his tools.

     The Thursday before Wyatt's big day, we picked out a brown paint color (Cup of Cocoa) and painted our east wall. This wall is in our family room and it also goes into our living room. That night we began painting and got the first coat of paint on. The actual painting didn't take that long, it's the prep work that takes all the time.
     Earlier in the week Michael ordered new blinds for our windows. They are just some vinyl ones from The Home Depot but they look so much nicer than the aluminum ones we had. Because the painting took longer than expected (it always seems to take longer than expected) Michael didn’t get to installing them until Saturday.
     Friday night we ran to The Home Depot, about the tenth time that week, and we picked out some new light fixtures. The ones in our home were the original ones from when the home was built about 15 years ago. They were gold and not very cute at all. Once again, we didn’t think they would take very long to put in, but boy were we wrong.
     Saturday night we were up until the wee hours of the morning (5:30 a.m. to be exact) finishing everything we had started. Both of our dads were over late on Saturday night helping us to finish. Thank goodness for them, we would have never finished on our own. My mom also came to help with the kids and did a little ironing too. We are so grateful to our families and the help they gave, they were great!
     Michael and I learned a few lessons that week. Mostly, don’t bite off more than you can chew. We also learned though that it’s good to have a deadline; we get things done that way. Next time we just need a little more sleep during the whole process! We are excited that it is done and we are enjoying a little more color and a few updates.