Kristen's Blog

Busy!

We have been crazy busy the past few months.  Our house closed on Leap Day and we worked on it nearly every day for about a month before we moved in.  We packed, cleaned and moved out of our rental at the end of March and moved into our lovely new home that partially resembles a contruction zone.  But, we really love it and are slowly putting it together and doing what we can to make it ours.  I don't have as many before pictures as I would like...things just were so crazy that pictures didn't seem to be a priority.  But, now I wish we had taken more.  There is still a lot to do but we are proud of ourselves and the many friends and family members that have helped us thus far.  We are especially grateful for Ryan's dad.  He has been over hear pretty much full-time.  He truly deserves the gold star!  We couldn't do this without him.

Three days after we moved in, we had our first guests.  My brother and his family had been planning to visit us for a few months.  It just so happened to fall right when we moved.  I was really worried how it was going to work out, but it was perfect!  We were unpacked enough and all the kids did great stepping over nails and not tripping on uneven stairs and carpet ends.  We had a lot of fun and did some great things...even though the weather didn't want to cooperate for a few days.

Ripping up the wood floor.

Wet bar almost gone...hallelujah!

Carpet gone....GROSS!

Our lovely new Acacia floor.  We are really happy with how it is turning out.  

Hayden loves the new carpet.  It's so soft and clean...especially compared to what was in there.  Yuck!

New light fixture and a little look at the paint color.  We painted the entire house the same color (beige/tan), with the beams on the main levels accented a bit darker.  We also painted all the cielings white.  Painting took a LOT longer than we expected.  We still have some touch-up, trim and doors to do...not too excited about that.  But, it will be nice to put up some doors and base boards sometime in the next few weeks, hopefully.

A look out our kitchen window.

A look out our front door.  The kids play in the cul-de-sac all day.  It's the most wonderful thing!

Mya had a birthday two weeks ago.  She was talking about it for a month.  I can't believe she is 7.  We love her so much!  

Fun with our cousins!

Freezing at Red Rocks.

Casa Bonita-Come to Denver and you can experience it, too!

Denver Museum of Nature and Science

Our friends had a family 5K this past weekend.  The weather was beautiful and we had a lot of fun. (Ryan and I both pushed strollers for a little extra work out :)  Carly and Ryan ran the whole way.  I went with Mya and she did great, too.   She ran about 1 mile and walked about 2.  I'm glad she did.  I don't know if I could have run the whole thing right now.  I'm still trying to figure out a good workout schedule with the baby....ughhh.

I have so many pictures, but this will have to do for now.  The school year will be over before we know it.  I am excited for summer.  Even though a lot of our time and money is being put into the house right now, we have a lot of fun things to look forward to when school is out.

 

Our new house

On Leap Day, we closed on a short sale that we put a bid on in August.  There is nothing "short" about a short sale, but we were glad that it finally worked out.  We learned a lot!  After months of hearing nothing and then a few weeks of extreme craziness trying to get it to close, it was a done deal on February 29th.  (I'm pretty sure that will be an easy day to remember.)  

We have been remodeling for the past three weeks and are planning on moving in in a few days. There will still be tons to do after we move in, but the walls and ceilings have been painted (we'll do the trim later...and baseboards), new carpet has been placed and the wood floor is being started as I type.  

We are excited for this new adventure.  It has already been a ton of work and I don't have the pictures I was hoping to take as we started this, but here are a few of the before pics that we took from last August.  The house was quite a mess, but we are doing our best to make it a beautiful, clean and loving home.

The girls love the purple door...I do not!  That will change at some point, but there are too many other things that are higher on the list of "to-do's".

The house was still full of a lot of their stuff.  They did finally get it all out by the day we closed.

We found the house and put an offer on it that day...or maybe the next morning.  It was a week before I had Hayden.  

I'll post some more pictures soon.  We have been working non-stop to get this place liveable and it will be wonderful for our girls.  It's on a cul-de-sac close to the house we have been living in for the last 3 years, by the girls school, up the road from church and only a few minutes from Ryan's office.  We are so happy to be able to stay in the same area we've been in.  We're hoping all of this hard work will pay off.  So far, the outcome is looking pretty good!

 

Solids, skiing and snow!

We started Hayden on solid food this past week and she has been doing great!  Everyone wanted to feed her that first time and she was happy to let them.  What a good little girl!

Over President's Day weekend our East Coast family came to the mountains to ski.  We were so lucky to spend a day and a half with them at beautiful Winter Park.  We love going to the mountains and don't get to do it as much as we'd like.  Carly got to go skiing for her first time.  Grandma and Kent are practically professionals and they took her for the day and she had a blast.  The rest of us hung out at the condo and enjoyed some simple sledding and snow fun.  We love our family and had so much fun spending some time with them.  We can't wait to see them again!

All I can say about this next picure is....RIDICULOUS :)  I turned around and this is what the girls had done to poor Hayden in a matter of 5 seconds.  They think she's an American Girl Doll.  Say hello to Kit Kitteridge.

And...happy Leap Day to us.  We closed on a house in our neighborhood on the 29th.  That will be an easy date to remember.  After much frustration and many months of patience, we are sweating, slaving and working hard to make this house a home.  We will hopefully move in in a few weeks.

 

Baby blessing

We were finally able to bless little Hayden on Sunday, February 5th.  It was a beautiful blessing that Ryan gave to her.  We are so happy that she has joined our family and we all love her to pieces.  

All of the girls were blessed in the same little white dress.  It's definitely a keeper!

And...this is what happens when this cute little girl is left alone with her sisters.

She becomes their lifesize dress-up doll. :)

Sleeping Beauties

I took a few pictures of the girls the other night while they were fast asleep.  It always makes me so grateful to be a mom when I check on them at night and they are sweetly and soundly asleep.  Many nights I check on them and think, "I should have been nicer today", or, "I shouldn't have gotten so angry at so-and-so."  But, one things for certain.  I sure love these sleeping beauties!

Happy Birthday to Ryan!

It's Ryan's birthday today.  I think this has been the busiest day of the month.  But, we got to spend a few minutes together.  I'm thankful for him in my life everyday.  He has been an amazing husband and father.  I know I'm a better person because of him.  

Happy New Year...and Christmas, too

It is now 2012 and life continues to fly by.  We had a wonderful Christmas this year.  I guess we have a great Christmas every year, but it was fun with all the kids being so excited about everything (except Hayden, of course).  After being gone for Thanksgiving and then being gone again for my grandma's funeral, it was so nice to be staying home for the remainder of the holidays.  

This year we decided to do the Twelve Days of Christmas.  I did this every year that I can remember growing up.  You leave a small, simple gift that has to do with that "day" of Christmas and a note at the door of someones home and then ring/knock and run...fast!  (ie: bag of pears for partidge in a pear tree, Dove chocolate for two turtle doves, chocolate milk for eight maids a milking, etc.)  The girls had a lot of fun, but it was sort of stressful as well.  The family we chose kept trying to catch us.  Luckily we did not get caught and we look forward to doing it again next year.

For Christmas Eve we were able to get together with some close friends.  We enjoyed food, great company and a reading of the Nativity story.

We had a fun Christmas morning and then headed to church after lunch.  It was wonderful to be at church on Christmas day.  The music was beautiful and the spirit was felt.  The whole purpose of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of our Savior.  It was a wonderful day!  

That evening, we had some family and friends over for food and talent enjoyment.  Not everyone participated, but hopefully next year they all won't be as shy.  Our family sang a few songs and the girls did some piano numbers and some cup stacking tricks.  

It was nice having the girls home for a few weeks and not having much of a schedule to follow.  They all love playing together and it's fun to see them do that when we have the time.

(This one above is very difficult right now.  But, I love her to death and wouldn't have it any other way.)

Ryan ran a race on New Year's Eve and then we went to a  New Year's party with some other families where New Year's is celebrated at exactly 7.15pm.  It was a lot of fun.  The kids got to do some noise makers and confetti and were still in bed at a pretty normal time.

Here are some pictures of the run.  It was at Wash Park, which is a great place for running, but it was so cold.  We were expecting that...it is winter and we do live in Denver.  It could have been a lot worse.

After bathtime and haircuts the other night.  We sure love our girls and look forward to this year and the many things that we will experience as a family!

Grandma Jean

Right after Thanksgiving (while were still out of town in California) my grandma passed away.  We knew it was probably coming since she had not been doing well the past few months, but it's still very bittersweet to have her gone.  I am so glad she is out of pain and in a better place.  

She was loved by so many.  People who knew my grandma loved her.  She was easy to like and was always serving.  She was pretty famous for her cooking and baking and energy.  She was the chocolate, pie, peach and party lady.  I spent many hours helping her dip and box chocolates, organize the peach and chocolate deliveries and bake pies.

We miss her.  She's been somewhat "away" for the past few years.  She had suffered from dementia but was still so kind and sweet.  My grandma taught me so many things...in the kitchen and out.  She was one of the hardest workers I knew.  She was never afraid to work and get dirty and and she was always upbeat!

All of my siblings were able to come to the funeral.  My parents are far away and didn't make it.  We thought my mom may try to come, but it is a very long and hard trip and my grandma died not too long after my parents left (5 months).  We missed having them with us, but it was so nice to stay at our home we grew up in and be together for a few hours with everyone.

There were two events for the weekend.  The funeral was in Fallon at our church building and the burial was in Brigham City, Utah, where my grandma was born and raised.  I'm so glad my grandpa decided to bury her there.  She talked about Brigham all the time and I'm sure she is so happy to have her body there.  

We were all able to attend the service in Fallon, but Jeff had to leave afterwards and drive back to Vegas so he could take a Torts final the next morning...lucky him.  The rest of us drove to Utah for the burial.  It was a very busy and quick weekend.  But, it was a wonderful reunion.  I love my family and I'm so grateful for the perspective we have of where we go after this life.  We are an eternal family and will all be together again someday!

Scott and Brent were supposed to be pallbearers as well, but Brent was meeting Scott somewhere along the Amtrak line at the time of this photo.  Scott's train from SLC had track problems.  It was delayed 3 hours and he was going to miss the whole funeral.  Luckily, he talked to the conductor and they let him off somewhere around Lovelock and he was able to jump off (literally...down the gravel) and meet Brent.  They made it just in time for the viewing and service.

Cousins!  Logan hadn't seen Hayden for about 2.5 months.

This was after the funeral outside the church.  We all ran back to the house to clean up and change.  Then, we all (minus Jeff) headed to Utah. 

It was freezing in Brigham, but that was to be expected.  At least the sun was out and it wasn't snowing!

We love you grandma!!!

 

Santa Barbara

We spent Thanksgiving out of town with Ryan's side of the family.  Almost everyone was there and we had so much fun.  My sister-in-law is from Santa Barbara and she and my brother-in-law moved back there about 2 years ago.  We really miss having them closer to us here in Colorado, but it sure is nice to have an excuse to take a beach vacation :)

Ryan's mom rented a beautiful home in Montecito and it was just the right size for all of us to stay together and have lots of fun cooking, talking, laughing and eating.  The girls had so much fun spending hours on end with their aunts...who are teenangers.  They were all in heaven!  We also got to see some of our good friends, The Wangs.  They came up from LA to spend part of a day with us.

We flew into LAX (the girls were all awesome on the plane and everything went as smooth as it could) and then drove up to Santa Barbara.  The drive was beautiful and we were so excited to be spending a week away.  We hadn't really left Denver since the spring, so this trip was a much needed vacation for us.  The girls were so excited to see the ocean.  It really was beautiful, and the weather was perfect all week!

Here is a view from the loft of the house (I should crop out the roof, but I don't want to take the time :)

We spent time at the park, at the beach, in and around the house (it really was a perfect house for a family get-together with lots of outdoor space as well), turkey-trotting, and eating, eating, eating.

There are a lot of Howell girls.  We have one other Howell cousin and, of course, it's a girl.  She is the cutest thing and had so much fun with all of our girls.  

We went to the beach twice.  The first time without suits...mistake...but we still had fun.  The water was FREEZING but the girls still had so much fun!

If you have little kids and are in the area, you have to eat at the Padaro Beach Grill in Carpenteria.  The food is good and affordable and they have the best outdoor eating area for the family.  You don't feel like you are bothering anyone.  It is right on the beach, although there is no beach access from the restaurant.  And, the kids can play in the sand pit for hours!  We went two days in a row and the kids were in heaven.

Hayden had fun, too.  She just didn't get out of her stroller much.  Maybe next time.  

Another highlight of our trip (which I apparently didn't take any pictures of) was staying the night in LA before our flight home and visiting the Los Angeles temple.  It was a Monday evening and for Family Night we decided to walk around the temple grounds.  It didn't cross our minds that the temple might have Christmas lights, but it did.  It was beautiful.  The Visitor's Center was very nice as well.  We had a fun evening being there and feeling the spirit with our family.

While we were in California, we got the news that my grandma had passed away.  The last few days we were trying to finalize our plans for attending the funeral, which was going to be three days after we got home.  We decided to go home as planned and then Ryan, Hayden and I would fly to Reno (leave the rest of the girls with his dad, here...thankfully), rent a car and drive to Fallon for the funeral, drive to UT for the burial, then fly back to Denver from there.  This was basically a busy, jam-packed 48-hour trip, but it was another wonderful reunion.  I'll post pictures later.  

For now, life is getting back to crazy :)  Christmas is in a few days and we are all excited.  I can't believe it's nearly 2012.  

Here and There

We just got back last night from a week in Santa Barbara with Ryan's family.  It was a wonderful trip and it's nice to be home.  

But, tomorrow Ryan, Hayden and I will head to Nevada and then on to Utah to celebrate the life of my grandma who passed away while we were out of town.  It is a bitterweet time for our family (especially since my mom and dad are so far away), but it's comforting to know that grandma is out of the pain and suffering she was experiencing and on to a better, more perfect place.

 
I'll post some more pictures when we get back.  It's been a whirlwind of a week, but it is always nice to be spending it with family.