Haircut!

My hair has been getting ridiculously long. For me anyway. I'm just not a long hair person. It doesn't work for me. Anyway, the last time I got my hair cut was when I was in CA in March. It was time, but finding the time (and money) kept getting in my way. Finally I decided to just ask my neighbor to cut it for me. She agreed and so I took the kids with me to her house this afternoon and she cut my hair and we chatted while the kids played happily in the back room. It was great. She wouldn't even let me pay her. I'll have to take her kids and give her an afternoon off one of these days instead. It feels so good to have my hair nice and short again!
PS-Tomorrow morning is our 20 week ultrasound. I'll keep you posted!

Ian's Birthday Weekend

We had a full weekend, but we had a lot of fun too. Friday night Ian ended up having to work late, but luckily he didn't have to work the rest of his birthday weekend. Saturday morning we drove to Provo to attend our sister in law, Emilee's dad's funeral. Ian's brother, Eli, gave the eulogy. It was a very nice service. I was supposed to help out with my niece, Ivy, but we were running a little late and when we got there she was already snuggled up with another friend and didn't want to come see me, but I tried. We took a few pictures with Uncle Eli afterwards.
While we were in Provo we hit up our favorite burger joint, Burger Supreme. The kids just don't appreciate a good cheeseburger yet, so they shared a corndog. We also stopped by Krispy Kreme on our way to the freeway for a donut. Mmm. Unfortunately Davin took his nap in the car on the way home, so he was done for the afternoon. The kids came home and watched a movie while Ian got some more work on the moulding in the den done. That evening we dropped off the boys at our friend's house and headed out on our date. We went and saw Inception first. It was a really great movie. You should definitely go see it. It's kind of intense, but there is almost no swearing or anything, and it's such a fun movie to try to figure out in your head.

After the movie we were starving, so we headed to Taste of Punjab for some Indian food. It was delicious. I heart naan. We had a nice time out and we even beat the kids home! They had gone to a BBQ with the Wilson's. They were so tired when they got home but they had a good time.

Sunday was Ian's actual birthday. He had to go to meetings all morning, but by the time he got home we were up and dressed (sort of), so we let him open his presents. He was excited about getting Trac Ball! Weston made Dad a birthday sign. I outlined the letters and he did the rest. I was impressed. He is getting better at coloring every day.
Weston added the BYU signs later for the party. He did them all by himself.
We all left church right after the sacrament so we could visit with Eli and Emilee for a few minutes before taking them to the airport. They are coming back in a week, so hopefully we will see them again soon.

I made Ian chicken parmesan for dinner. After we cleaned up dinner we had some friends over for ice cream cake. I hadn't made an ice cream cake roll in years and I think the last time I did make it my mom helped me. It turned out pretty good. The cake sort of fell apart, but that's why you freeze it and frost it with whipped cream. It tasted delicious. I think Ian had a good birthday.

Have I mentioned that it's hot? Really hot. During Ian's little party it was 87 degrees in our house. Ugh. I would have opened the windows, but it was still 96 outside. When it gets that hot our house just doesn't cool down. I am hoping that we will have time to move our furniture back into the den and put in the window a/c unit before we leave on our trip this weekend. Yesterday we went to the pool. It felt SO good. Today we are going to a splash park. Weston is getting tan and Davin is getting blond. If the house were cooler I would have no complaints about summer. :)

Shiny and New

Sometimes I just like new stuff. Every once in awhile I get this overwhelming urge to just buy something new. A new shampoo, a new shirt, new flip flops, earrings, a kitchen appliance, etc. I hope you don't think I'm materialistic, but it seriously just gives me a (short term, of course) feeling of well being to have something new. I haven't been buying a lot of new things for myself lately. Money has been tight because of our den project. However, I'm happy to report that getting new carpet in the den (that Ian and I didn't have to install) fulfilled the same purpose.
I love it! It even smells new. And I just want to walk around barefoot on it. It was installed yesterday morning. I picked Ian up from work a little early and we came home and started working on the crown moulding. It's all up. Not looking completely finished yet (nail holes and seams), but still looking great! I am just so excited that we are so close to having the new and improved den back.

In other shiny and new news. My hubby is turning 29 on Sunday! A shiny, new year for him. The last year of his 20's. I personally think that his 20's have been the best decade ever. He met me, we got married, had two cute boys. He graduated from BYU, got his grown up job (which he is great at and this week got another good raise). We bought a house, have learned and grown in said house, and are currently awaiting the birth of another baby. In all seriousness though I love Ian so much. He is a wonderful husband and father and I hope that I can give him a good birthday weekend. Happy (almost) Birthday babe! We will be busy, so I'll tell you all about it next week.

PS-What do you think of the new blog background? I think it's fun and summery. Weston said, "but Mom, you hate dandelions in real life." :) It's true.

A Few Things . . .

*Spaghetti with browned butter and mizithra is a quick, easy, fancy looking meal that Weston will eat. It's a miracle. During his third helping tonight he told me "Now I just want to eat this every night!"

*Weston is an expert block builder. I have mentioned his block building expertise before, but his latest masterpiece took him all day and almost all the blocks. He was very proud. Ian just laughed because apparently he used to build towers just like Weston. You'll notice that it is completely symmetrical. Even the colors coordinate on each side. Funny kid.
*The tile is done in the entry (with the exception of the sealant) and Thursday is carpet install day! Here's the progression of getting the tile finished.
*It has been hot. Luckily my house hasn't gotten hotter than about 82 degrees, but it still feels warm. Today we cooled off at the splash park in Herriman with my cousin and her kiddos. We had so much fun!
*I cannot wait until tomorrow night when I finally get to see Eclipse! I have been waiting to see it with my friend Tara. Our schedules have just not been matching up for the last couple weeks though, so this is the first time we could both go. Our husbands have chosen to come with us. We were going to just do it girls night style, but they wanted to join us, so hooray for a double date!

Dinosaur Birthday Party!

No, Ian is not having a dinosaur themed birthday party. Although Davin would think that was super cool if he did. The Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point has been around for 10 years and they are celebrating this week with a birthday party! Lots of the dinosaur skeletons are wearing party hats and in the lobby they have birthday activities, like face painting and games, and crafts.
We invited another family in our ward to go with us on Tuesday to the birthday celebration. The kids all had a great time. Weston loved doing origami. He made a dinosaur head that chomps. Face painting was a big hit. Even Davin sat still to get a dinosaur painted on his face. And, of course all the dinosaur skeletons and sand play areas were a blast. If you live in the area I highly recommend you take your kids to the dinosaur birthday party before it ends this week!

4th of July Weekend!

I feel like we have just been so crazy busy and my posts are always catch-up posts. I also haven't been as faithful of a blogger lately because of the fact that I don't have the den to cozy up in at the computer. A problem that (fingers crossed) will shortly be remedied. We did a lot of work on the den this weekend. It was not a relaxing long weekend, but we still squeezed in plenty of Independence Day fun.

Friday night we started texturing the den. At 11pm I called it a night and went to bed. Ian kept at it until he had used up the rest of the mud. By morning we were out of mud (necessitating yet another Home Depot run), but only had one wall left to texture, so it should have gotten done pretty quickly, but I kept getting distracted by the kiddos. Weston wasn't feeling good and fell asleep on the couch. I moved him to his bed and he slept for about an hour. When he woke up he had a fever and was crying that his stomach hurt. I kept waiting for him to throw up, but he didn't. I sat with him and rubbed his feet for a little bit, then went back to help in the den. Needless to say it goes faster with two people working.

Sickie Weston napping at 11am. Never a good sign.

Textured walls

We finished up the texture just in time to clean up the backyard for our BBQ and take showers. It was an absolutely perfect day for BBQing. 76 degrees, sunny, breezy. Just gorgeous. We had a yummy BBQ with our friends, the Severinsen's. The only bummer was that their little girl fell off our retaining wall and got a pretty huge bump on her head. It was sad. She bounced back fairly quickly though.

We went to Murray Park for fireworks after the BBQ. We got there around 7pm and had to wait until 10pm for the show to start. Luckily there is plenty to see and do at the park. We took turns taking the kids for walks, but mostly we just hung out in our spot and snacked and visited. Weston started to fade around 9pm. I wrapped him up in a fuzzy blanket on the grass and he fell asleep. We woke him up for fireworks. Davin did not like the loud noise of the fireworks and made me keep my hand over his non-snuggled-up-to-me ear the whole time. It was a late night, but luckily the kids slept until 8:30 on Sunday. Hooray!
Sunday afternoon we ended up BBQing with our bishop's family. We had stopped by to check on their wood floor project and ended up spending the evening grilling hot dogs, eating fabulous watermelon, doing sparklers, and playing with a potato gun. Poor Davin burned his thumb on his last sparkler of the night. He also hadn't had a nap, so he had a bit of a meltdown when we left. It was a really fun way to spend the 4th.

After we got the kids in bed that night we taped up the ceiling, windows and doors. Monday morning we painted. In between coats of paint we took the kids to the Gateway to play in the fountain. Ian got to go play with the new iphone at the Apple store too. When we got home I was exhausted and took a nap while Ian gave the front door a fresh coat of paint. When I got up we painted the second coat on the walls. As soon as we finished I went and took a shower and got ready for my girl's night out!

After the 1st coat of paint

After the 2nd coat of paint. Can you even tell it's painted? I think it looks very nice!

I got to have dinner last night with 6 other girls from my Freshman year at BYU. Most of them had been my roommates at some point too. It was so fun to all get together and catch up on everyone's lives. There were a few of us locals, but the others were in town from Philidelphia, Seattle, Phoenix, and Vegas. We had a great time!

Liz, Sarah, Tara (due August 10th with baby #3), Alexis (due September 1st with baby #2), me (due December 8th with baby #3), Katie, and Heather
Taylor Hall alumni 2001-2002

All in all it was a great weekend. We got to spend time with friends, get lots of work on the den done, and sleep in a little. It was also exhausting. I'm going to need the next couple days to recover before we start on the next phase of the den renovation: tile entry.

Ahh Payday

If you're anything like me you look forward to pay day. The morning the money is in the account I hop online and pay the bills for the next two weeks. Today I also grocery shopped. I mean marathon grocery shopped. We hit up Walmart for non-perishables then headed to Winco for their sweet coupon deals and cheap produce (I got a seedless watermelon for $2). After that we had to drop by home to put away the groceries that needed to be kept cold.

Next up was Davin's haircut. I wasn't planning on doing that today, but I had a Great Clips coupon that was expiring, so I just slipped it in there. He did so much better than he has in the past! No crying at all. He did hunch his shoulders every time the clippers touched him, but his hair got cut and he got a sucker and all was well. We grabbed some lunch then made a quick last stop at Sam's Club. I only buy a few things at Sam's normally, but today I really only had 4 items on my list. All cheapest at Sam's though. We lucked out with tons of samples too. We barely made it home in time to catch Elmo's World on Sesame Street before nap time. Whew!

I had to lay down during quiet time. I am debating about cleaning my house. The floors are a mess, but I know they will look just as bad 12 hours from now even if I clean them. That's so depressing. I think I'll wait to vacuum until after we clean up the backyard and are done coming in and out. Then the house will at least look nice until morning.

Yesterday I got a babysitter and picked Ian up from work for a lunch/carpet shopping date. It was really fun. We went to this random Leatherby's in Midvale that serves really good Mexican food. I had a fajita chicken taco and two different tamales. Yum. We also got a scoop of ice cream there. We found a couple affordable carpeting options and I think we are going to end up going with the basic berber. I think it will just suit our needs in that room the best even though it's not the prettiest carpet. Plus we can get the carpet, pad, and installation for around $350. Pretty good price.

Today Ian is coming home early and I think we will head to Home Depot with our carpet swatch to pick out paint and tile for the entry. This long weekend's den agenda is to sand down the second coat of mud, texture the walls using the remaining mud, then paint. Hopefully middle of next week we will be laying the tile and scheduling the carpet installation! It's all coming together! I can't wait for it to be done!

We also will throw a BBQ with some friends in there tomorrow and an awesome fireworks show at Murray Park. Happy Independence Day weekend!