We have seen so many animals in our yard. All winter long we have seen deer. We even saw foot prints close to the house. We have all kinds of birds flying around. The other morning we had the windows opened and Jake came in and said that the birds were so smart because they knew and were singing the Mario song. So funny what kids come up with. He loves listening to the birds. One Sunday afternoon when my family was over there was a huge snake. He was hissing at us and not happy that we were around. My brother shooed him away with a stick to the other side of the fence. I even saw a gopher running across our yard. I hope they all go away when we get more put together so they don’t eat everything.

On Friday afternoon Josh had been complaining, crying, and screaming that his eye hurt. I thought he got something in it but would not see anything. When my mom got over to our house to do some activities she said maybe something got up under his eye lid and it wasn’t being washed out. I took him to InstaCare and they couldn’t see anything. They put some drops in his eye and put up a special light and it showed that his eye had a large cut on it. They called it a cornea abrasion. They sent us upstairs to the Primary’s unit to see a Pediatric Opthamalogist. She said it wasn’t as bad as some cases she had seen but it was very painful. Josh would be fine for a few minutes and then start screaming. She said as the eye moved the cut would catch and then hurt causing him to scream. She prescribed some drops to help seal the cut and prevent infection. They ran all kinds of tests to make sure it didn’t affect his vision. Most of the cut was on the white of the eye so he checked out ok. While they were doing all the tests I asked her to check for color blindness. He gets his colors so mixed up and thinks everything is blue, green, or red. As I suspected, he is color blind just like his grandpa. I am glad I know so I don’t stress out so much about him not knowing his colors. It was a long night of him sleeping and then screaming and holding him down three times a day for drops. But on Tuesday when he had a check up it was all healed and no cut was to be seen. Good thing eyes heal fast!

When we got all done with doctors it was finally time to dye Easter eggs. The boys love having this tradition and having grandma Camille come help us every year. We had mostly green and red dyed eggs since that is the favorite colors of Jake and Josh and lots of dye coloring on hands. Grandma then had the boys help with the sprinkles on the PB eggs.

Saturday we had our annual Ware Easter Egg Hunt. I am so happy for this tradition so that I don’t have to fight the crowds and worry about the boys getting eggs at hunts. They were so lucky and got lots of candy filled eggs and a few money filled eggs. It was so nice of a day that we stayed outside on grandma Carol’s patio to socialize and watch the boys play with my cousin’s kids. Grandma Camille even brought stuff to make these little guys that grow hair out of a nylon and some super sized frisbees.

Sunday morning we woke up to see what the Easter Bunny brought. The boys got lots of candy, a sling shot, new toothbrushes, and Lego’s. Legos took up the rest of the morning so I went back to sleep since I had few hours the previous nights with Josh’s eye injury. The afternoon was spent in church. I did feel really guilty when Kurt got in the car and he said in Elder’s Quorum as part of the lesson each person shared what they did that morning to celebrate the real reason for Easter. We had done nothing that morning because I was so tired. We did however during the week talk lots about the Savior’s Resurrection as we were reading 3rd Nephi and His visit to the America’s. And on Monday I did a whole FHE with the eggs and little things inside the eggs that represent the Savior’s crucifixion and resurrection. I wish Kurt would have remembered all those times. Next year I will have to do a better job.

Living Room- This is where we put our piano, some chairs and our bookcase with nice things like sculptures, church books, and family vacation pictures.

Office- We bought a new table for our computer and printer so they both will fit together. We also got a tray organizer for mail and other papers that need to be filed. And I put together a organizer for office supplies. We had wood floors put into this area and still need to get a nice rolling office chair.

Family Room- We had built in cabinets to hide all of our entertainment machines and cords. The other side is used for blankets and scrapbooks. Kurt had the TV mounted on the wall above the fireplace. We love the fireplace. It heats up the room really fast and is so fun to use when watching movies together. I orders the Family Is… vinyl and we had pictures taken to put on the wall with the words. I love how it turned out.

Dining- Our table is too small for this area. Eventually we will have to get a bigger one. There is a bench built all the way around the outside too. I still want to get cushions for this. There is a door that goes out to our covered patio.

Kitchen- I love how the kitchen turned out. There was a little bit of a problem with the backsplash and they were installing it as we were trying to move in. But I think everything looks so nice. We picked off white cabinets with a brown glaze. It looks so pretty in person. We haven’t even filled them all yet. All my cabinets have the roll out shelves and one cabinet holds the garbage and recycling. It has nice big drawers and we added 4 more big pot and pan drawers. One cabinet has glass to display our china. We got all new appliances too. It came with double ovens and a gas range. Our fridge has the french doors with the freezer on the bottom. The boys favorite feature is the water and ice dispensers.

Pantry- The pantry is huge. I have so much room to put everything. I put some lazy susans in the corners and some big bins on the floor to hold big things. I hung up my spice racks and some hooks for the mop and broom. Behind the door are some hanging organizers for crayons, markers, and colored pencils.

Mudroom- This was something that we really wanted in the house. Our builder put in a bench and stacks. Each person has their own hook to hang things on and cubby.

Powder Bath- I wanted a bathroom by the backdoor so that when the boys are outside playing they don’t have to walk through the whole house to use it.

Butler’s Pantry- We have a small walkway between our dining and office that was intended to be a formal dining in the office. We bought some cabinets and made it into game/puzzle area. I bought all the decorative things new to add to the space.

Master Bedroom- This room is huge. We bought some bedroom furniture (we have never had any) with Christmas money. I have one more wall in here that I need to figure out what to do.

Master Bedroom- I also love our master bathroom a lot. We have so much room to get ready in the morning. I love the huge tub and the big shower with a nice bench in it. We have two sink so each of us has one to use in the mornings.

Master Closet- Again it is huge. We actually are able to get all our clothes in here.

Laundry room- I have an actual room to do laundry. We got the front loading washer and dryer set. I have space to put out everyone’s baskets so I can fold everything then they have to put it away themselves.

Jake’s room- Jake picked Angry birds for his theme. We did have to buy a new bed because his cracked in the move. So his room is full of mismatched furniture.

Josh’s room- Josh chose to stay with the Cars theme. Both boys loved helping put their stuff on the walls. They each have a large closet to fill up.

Extra room- Not much in here yet. I put my doll collection and thimble collection in here and a few pictures. Eventually we will do something in here.

Boys bathroom- I love the hooks we got for in here.

Downstairs- We have so much storage. We made a nice play area for the boys with some rugs. Then I have a huge cold storage where all our food storage and emergency supplies are. In fact I wanted to get my kitchen unpacked first and then my food/ emergency storage unpacked second.

Garage- We have a three car garage. Both cars fit easily into it without bumping each other when opening doors and we have plenty of space for all our recreational things and yard supplies. Kurt still has to put together his garage shelf and get his tools organized.

Outside- They put in our front and side yards. On the south side we decided to pour a RV pad. Right now it has the boys basketball stand on it. Jake will have plenty of room to play and bounce the ball instead of having to shoot it from the grass. We are on a half acre so in the picture our yard goes clear down to the end of the fence and then over to the pink post. We have a lot of work to do this spring and have no ideas. We also put in a covered patio that I know will get used lots. No one will ever build behind us so we have a really nice view and lots of area to explore.
We are so excited to be in our home! We would love to show anyone an in person tour that wants to come see it.

Christmas Eve my family got together and we had a visit from Santa. Jake was so funny and just talked Santa’s ears off. Josh actually went and sat on his lap. Everyone was so excited to see him. Luckily we didn’t have any lasts minute gift changes. With cousins being in town we did the Nativity Play. It was not the most reverent that we have had but the kids loved acting out their parts. Jake was Joseph and Josh was a wise man. Christmas morning we woke up to see what Santa brought us. Jake got Epic Mickey and a alarm clock radio with iPod dock. Josh got the Bat Cave and a punching bag. They loved seeing what their cousins got from Santa too and everyone played with all the gifts. After church we were able to open our other gifts. We gave the boys some new things for their rooms, books, Legos, and dart guns. kurt got a new sound system for our new house. And Kurt surprised me with an iPad. We were spoiled by all the nice things that were given to us by family this year. I have posted lots of pictures on our flickr page.

LegoLand was crowded. We waited in ride lines for a long time. We loved seeing all the lego built into people, buildings, animals, and lots of other things. They have a whole Star Wars display that has a scene from each of the 6 movies. Jake was in heaven looking at all the things and pointing out the little details. Jake’s favorite ride was the cars that he and his cousin Sydney got the drive. LegoLand was the coldest day of our week in California. One neat things that they had was while you were waiting in line some of the rides had a lego play area for the kids to pass the time. As a souvenier the boys picked out some mugs with Lego guys on it and Josh got a Cars lego set and Jake got some people to add to his Star Wars and Harry Potter lego bins.

The next day we started our three day stay at Disneyland Resort. We loved being there and seeing all the Christmas things on Main Street. There is a huge tree when you first walk in and the castle has tons of lights on it. It looks spectacular at night. We started early in the morning with our Magic Morning Entrance and got all of Fantasyland done. My favorite ride was It’s A Small World. They change it for Christmas and add all kinds of Christmas decor and scenes. The building has tons of Christmas lights on at night and looks so fun. We spent the rest of the day doing various rides around the park. Josh was exactly 40 inches and got to go on everything but Indiana Jones and California Screamin. And he was braver than Jake on most of the rides and loved all of them. The firework show at night was done to Christmas music and was so fun to watch.

On day 2 we spent the first two hours at Disneyland and then headed over to California Adventure for the rest of the day and evening. Jake got brave and tried Tower of Terror again. He said the ride wasn’t too bad when it dropped but he doesn’t like the beginning when the people disappear. Josh said it wasn’t his favorite. We even made Jake go on the “big roller coaster”. He did not like going upside down. At night we watched the new World of Color show. It is one of the most amazing things I have ever seen. I loved the whole thing. The boys were so excited to name all the movies and characters that were show on the water screen.

Day 3 was to just hit everything that we hadn’t done yet. Jake’s favorite ride was Star Tours and Josh’s was Buzz Lightyear. Since this day was Thanksgiving we booked our meal to be at Goofy’s Kitchen. Every minute of dining and seeing the characters is worth the price. We had Goofy, Pluto, Minnie, Chip, Dale, Captain Hook, Aurora (Sleeping Beauty), Cinderella, and the Fairy Godmother visit our table. The kids were so excited to meet all the characters that it was a little hard to get them to eat. They did have traditional Thanksgiving food that the adults ate. But the kids stuck to hot dogs, peanut butter and jelly pizza, spaghetti and lots of desserts. It was the best Thanksgiving meal because we didn’t have to prepare or clean up anything. After dinner Kurt had to fly home so he could work the busy weekend. He was lucky that his work let him come since this time of the year is so busy and lots of work for him. We went back to Disneyland and walked through ToonTown. It is fun for the kids to see where all the characters live. They get a kick in sitting in their chairs and seeing beds. When my dad and brother got back from dropping Kurt off we did some shopping and watched the firework show again. By the end of day 3 (4 if you count LegoLand) our feet were so tired. Jake was so good to not complain and to walk and stand in all the lines. Josh was so good to sit in the stroller. We had no lost kids this time. It was so fun to be there and see all the Christmas things that Disney does.

Our last day in California we drove to the coast and walked around Newport Beach. We drove up to Huntington Beach too. Then we dropped my sister and her family off at the airport. Then we drove up to Malibu Beach. My dad loves to drive along the coast. It is so fun to drive through all the beach cities. We saw surfers out in the water but we did not go in the water.

It was a fun way to spend the week of Thanksgiving with all my family. We have lots of pictures on our flickr account. To see them click on one of the pictures at the right and then you can see the whole trip.

The second week of our vacation was spent in Portland at my sister’s house. Kurt was there with us through the 4th of July weekend and then he flew home. My mom flew out to spend time with everyone too. For the 4th we did a nature trail hike, had a picnic at the park, and then did lots of fireworks. After Kurt left we went to three different splash parks, the farmer’s market, played at several parks, saw Kung Fu Panda 2, and did lots of playing with cousins. We were there to celebrate my nephew’s birthday at a pizza place too. Since Kurt flew home I had to drive. It was a long ride home. We got home late and everyone was exhausted.
Thanks everyone for the fun vacations!