Well. I've decided I'm going to make more of an effort to keep this updated seeing as how it is serving as a journal as well. I got really furstrated with this a while back cause I wrote a big long update in Word and then tried to cut and paste it, but blogspot doesn't allow that. So. This is going to be one LONG post. Last I wrote was about a year ago I think. I posted pictures from Christmas that I was going to attach to my blog update written in word. So. Incase you are wondering the most recent pictures are from Christmas in our new house.

Well. First I'll update you on the house. We spent about 4.5 days in the middle of October last year painting the inside of our home because we opted to do the sweat equity to save some money. BAD IDEA. It is a rip off to choose the sweat equity cause they don't pay you as much as they would a contractor. You barely have enough to cover the cost let alone be paid for the labor. Lesson learned. Next time we will NOT be doing the sweat equity. We decided to do 3 tone paint in the master, hall, kitchen and living areas. It was a long 4.5 days. Many nights we were painting till midnight or 1 in the morning. We had so much help from family which was really nice. Dan's brother Dave spent the entire time with us. He is a pro at home improvement stuff so he was the director of everything. We were so grateful for his help. We had family members coming and going the entire time and Dan's mom and my mom spent lots of time watching the kids and feeding everyone. We really couldn't have done it without all of their help. We are so fortunate to have such great families. It turned out really well except for the stairwell and the doors. For some reason they hadn't installed the heating and it was pretty cold. That caused the paint in the stairwell to bubble when it dried which resulted in peeling. It also caused the paint on the doors to run since we sprayed them in the basement. Just last week I went through and touched up everything on the doors and all the nick marks on the walls from us just being here for a little under a year. It looks so much better. We left the bathrooms white and the bedrooms and the laundry room. Bathrooms we left mostly so that it was brighter and the kids rooms we left white cause we were going to paint them later. Which we did end up doing a few months ago. Here are some pics of the living areas and the bedrooms.

The outside of the house turned out pretty well. I wasn't happy with the color of the vents they put on so I repainted the one on the garage. I don't know when I'll get around to doing the others since I need a taller, more stable ladder.

We put the yard in this spring and it was a NIGHTMARE. It was another sweat equity project too and it ended up costing way more than expected and being a BIG frustration. I'd put pics up but I'm not quite done with the gardens so I think those will have to come probably next year when it should look better. For now this is what the outside looks like without the yard in. It was taken shortly after we moved in.

So. We moved in right after Thanksgiving, on the 27th of November 2009 (Friday.) Our first few nights were interesting because I didn't order the blinds in time so we spent till the following wednesday with no blinds. I had no idea how much I value my privacy until I didn't have it for a few days. unpacking and cleaning up only took 3 days, even to hang stuff on the walls, cause I had to get ready to host a bridal shower for my new sister in law. It was a good thing we didn't have a ton of stuff since we were in a small apartment. December was super busy but I was ready for Christmas by the end of November so things went smoothly. My brother Walter married his wife Kristen in the Salt Lake Temple on December 23rd 2009. It was a busy time cause we did the reception. I helped decorate a little and Dan and I did a hot cocoa and cookie bar for the refreshments. It was stressful but turned out pretty good. Walter and Kristen are now expecting their first baby. We get to find out what it is next month and I'm so excited. This will be the first grandkid on my side that isn't my kid. So, my first niece or nephew on my side of the family. We added another nephew on Dan's side of the family this summer. David and Shannon had a little boy they named Hudson. So happy that he is here and safe and healthy. While I'm updating on new additions I should include Thomas and Megan. Thomas is Dan's brother just younger than him. He married Megan in the new Oquirrh Mountain Temple just last month. We are so excited to welcome his new bride to the family. So. Now for updates on our family.

I have to brag a little. Dan officially has his BACHELORS DEGREE!!!! I am sooooooo proud of him. He started on his Masters last spring and after this semester only has one more. He will have his masters this summer!!! He has worked so hard and has been pulling a 4.0 through his graduate program thus far. He received the highest scholarship in his program but it is called an assistantship meaning he has to work as a TA to get it. So far it has been really easy, not much has been expected. He is still going to school and working full time. We have been greatly blessed. We have no debt for school, bought a home that was a price that would allow us to continue to save and Dan has a fabulous job that pays 5,000.00 towards tuition per year. We have certainly seen the blessings of our hard work and long suffering. Waiting to buy a home and saving really paid off. We have no debt and the additional blessing was seen a few months after we moved in. Dan was promoted within the company and given a $30,0000.00 raise. I couldn't believe it. We had planned well enough we didn't need the raise so I found my self wondering why the Lord would bless us with something so big. I have to admit I kept wondering what was going to happen that would mean we would need this additional income. So far I really don't know but we have been doing like we always do and saving all we can. We were also greatly blessed shortly after deciding to build our home. We were to late to get in on the 6,000.00 the state offered and too late to do the $7,500.00 interest free loan that the governement was offering. Just before we decided to buy we found out about the $8,000.00 free money from the government and right after we signed we found out the state was offering $4,000.00 to new home buyers. We sure lucked out! Actually, we were just really blessed. I'm so glad we listened when the Lord said that we needed to wait longer and it wasn't the right time to buy. Granted I was frustrated with our small space but putting up with it for a little while sure put us in a great situation. So that is about all that is new with Dan and I now for an update on the kids. Lots and lots has happened with them.

Addi just started preschool in September and she absolutely loves it! She turned 3 in March and I have to agree that 3s are so much worse than 2s. She is learning a lot and understands just about everything Dan says to her in French. She knows almost all the days of the week in French and she can count to 10. she knows all her body parts. she doesn't really speak it much but she understands and I'm learning with her. She loves her new room with all the polka dots and has become quite the little tatletale. She likes to boss her brother around a ton but for the most part they get along well. She is mostly potty trained but goes through phases of peeing her pants a couple of times a day. She is sure growing and changing a lot. I hate to say it but at this stage she pretty much drives me nuts. I hate that naps are a thing of the past when it comes to her. The defiant stage has started. We have moved from putting her in the corner for time out to putting her in her room and locking it from the outside. She hates that the most but she doesn't stay in time out when I put her there. Right now she is pretty sneaky and likes to destroy things or make large messes. Yesterday when I came out from taking a shower I had found that she had twisted in the curtains and yanked the rod right out of the wall. At least she understood that she did something wrong and put her self in her room. She still makes me laugh though. The other day when we were trying to leave the Walgreens parking lot the lady in front of us kept not paying attention and missing all her chances to turn and in frustration I yelled "GO! YOU IDIOT!" From the back seats Addi tells me "Mom, we don't say that to people" I responded, "you are right, I'm sorry" next thing I hear is " Mom, we say GET OUT OF THE WAY to people."we had a discussion after that about asking kindly for people to do or not do things. Not to long ago she said something really cute. I hadn't noticed that she wanted more yogurt, she just helped herself and she put a Ton in her bowl! I told her she better plan on eating it all and she responded "I will mom, My belly button is REALLY hungry." to my surprise she did finish it all and didn't even complain about a yucky tummy. As much as she drives me nuts sometimes I really do love her. She loves to sing and dance and make up songs. She has really improved with drawing, At church the other day she drew a really good ghost with 2 eyes a nose and a mouth. Speaking of ghost. She is pretty funny in her thinking. She doesn't realize the difference between the holy ghost and a ghost like for halloween. So. sometimes she puts a sheet or a blanket over her head and walks around saying in a creepy voice, "I'm the holy ghost!!" My favorite thing though was when she was a little younger. She couldn't say her S very well and we had smarties in the house. She kept asking for some but she kept saying Farties instead. It took me the longest to figure out what she was saying. Here is a video of her trying to say it...

She can say it now but it sure was funny at the time. Well I think it is time to update on Xander. Lots more has changed with him.

Last I updated Xander was 6 months old. It is hard to think he was once not mobile. He is now 18 months and just started nursery (thank heaven) we can now enjoy sunday school and relief society/ priesthood. He started walking at 9 months and of couse he is running all over the place now. He climbs on everything and gets into tons of trouble. He still is as chunky as ever. I took him to the doctor last week and he was 26 Ibs. He looks a lot like Dan's mom. Many times people ask me if he is Islander and if he and Addi are even related by blood. He is such a handsome kid. He had curly hair until last month when I had to cut it cause it was too long and just kept getting all tangled. I think when it grows out a little more he will still have some curl. Xander's latest interests have been climbing up and standing on the table and dancing, dragging chairs around the kitchen and getting up to what ever he wants (mostly the phone) and sliding out coffee table over to the sliding glass door and unlocking it and walking out. He also just figured out last week how to open the child proof latch I have on the computer desk to keep him from shutting the computer off. He is way too smart for his own good but I can't stay mad long cause he is so stinkin cute. He has the cheesiest grin and is so loving. He gives fabulous hugs and kisses. When he was a year he thought it was hilarious when people sneezed so every time they would sneeze he'd pretend to sneeze too. here is a video...

He has learned a few word and still uses signing to communicate. He knows how to say "All done!", "gone" "momma" "dada" and the classic one.... "denied!!!" We kept telling him denied every time he would get into something he shouldn't and one day he just repeated it and says it all the time now. He learned "Damn" earlier on but thankfully has forgotten that one. He also just learned how to say Grandma. A few months ago I caught hime with Addi's dolls lifting up their shirts and scratching at their belly buttons while saying "tickle tickle tickle." He will do that any time he finds skin showing where it doesn't normally show. Here is a video of the Tickle tickel. Took a while to get him to say it though....

Sad part is he pinches more than he tickles. He also has learned "hi" and "bye" Both he and Addi just love the camera. I'll be posting a few more recent pics up and then try to keep them updated from here.

As I was writing I noticed I've forgot to include the not so good news. We found out a few weeks ago that Dan's Grandpa, Doug Terry, was just diagnosed with bone cancer. From what we have heard it sounds like things are optimistic, they can slow it down and give him more time but he will have to take life slower than he is used to. also. My sister who has been stuggling with anorexia for a few years now was just checked into a hospital cause she can't seem to get better on her own. She was in a facility in febuary for a few months but they let her out so she could graduate highschool. I'm hoping she tries harder to conquer this cause we can't do it for her. She has to want to get better. Well. i also realized I hadn't updating on the new callings we have in this new ward. I've been called as the visiting teaching coordinator and Dan is Scout master. He is SUPER busy now but the Lord has blessed us for it. Well. That is it for now. I need a break from all this typing! :)