Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving day was wonderful!  After we got done taking pictures, we went to my grandparents house for a quite afternoon, then over to Ronnie's parents house for the evening.  The next day we went up to Zions for the traditional LeBaron family tree hunt!  We almost didn't make it up there and the ride was awful, but we made it.  First, we were running late, then Avey barfed, then we had to stop and get gas.  Then the dvd player I got at Black Friday didn't work, so we went and got the last one at Wal-Mart on price match.  Then Avey barfed again and we almost turned around, but decided to press on.  Then as we were going up the winding rodes, I remembered that I ALWAYS get car sick and I always forget that I do, so I never bring anything to help.  By the time we got to the dirt rode that led to the trees, I was holding back tears and gripping onto the door handle so hard, my hands started to hurt.  I cursed the dirt road and swore I would never come again, but all was quickly forgotten once we got there and enjoyed the family time and Bonnie's delicious corn bread.  We had a great time finding our trees and going on four wheeler rides (aside from Chloe's sass attacks) and just hangin out.  The ride home was even enjoyable since my sil Lisa provided me with some Dramamine that knocked me out until we hit Rockville!

Family Tripod Pictures 2012

 The fence we had to climb

 What it looks like behind the scenes when you take tripod pictures

 Giving Chloe a little pep talk

 The winner!

 Kissy face!

 Love my girls :)

 How we get Chloe to go along with it

Bright eyes

 We got her attention by asking how old she was

 We made Avey happy with her baby

 Chloe always takes good care of her baby sister

 I believe in bribery

 Gwumpy faaaaaace!

 Another winner!

 Another behind the scenes look at the frustations of tripod photography!

Thanksgiving morning, I woke up full of purpose and drive to finally get our family pictures done!  I'd worked out the outfits weeks before and we'd finally finished our house, so the time was ripe!  We were going to take pictures at the new soccer park in Washington, but couldn't find a good spot, so we went across the rode to a place I'd had my eye on for a while.  It was gorgeous and perfect, the only downside(s) was that we had to climb a fence and it was full of thorns and cowpies.  But, with the help of Peanut Butter M&M's and a certain baby doll, we were able to get some fabulous pictures!  Hope you enjoy!

Well That Went Fast...

Here we are at the end of another year, and I can hardly believe it.  This year has FLOWN by!  I feel like this year I really joined the adult world.  Two children, business owners, home owners, and continual work on our new home has made me feel so OLD, but in a good way.  I read over my New Year's resolutions from last year and I accomplished ONE, and not even all the way!  I had resolved to:

• Make a quilt....instead I sewed various other challenging projects like a changing pad, car seat canopy and pj pants for the girls and me.
• Get back to my pre-Chloe weight of 156...instead I walked a 5k and did loose 3 lbs!  I even fit into my college pants, so I'm feeling pretty good!
• Join a book club...I joined a club, two of them actually, but I haven't been to any meetings!
• Read the Standard Works...didn't do that, but I read my scriptures every day, which is huge for me!  I'm almost to the end of Alma (sometimes it wasn't very much, but it was constant!)!
• Make dinner five days a week...hehe, if PB &J counts, then I rocked it!  We lived off those while building our house!  I'm pretty sure I ate that atleast five days a week!
• A daily curriculum for Chloe...did not happen at all!  I was good just to limit her to one show a day!  This year will be better!!!

Other things I accomplished this year were:

• Building 4 houses!  Woo!
• We kept GlitchBusters open (huge thanks to Chris)!
• Made my first blog book.
• Celebrated our 5th anniversary!
• We moved!
• Learned to cherish every extra moment we have with our girls and count our blessings!!!
• Survived Ronnie's long hours as he moved the radio station across town.

This year has been a very emotional one.  We were spread very thin and felt very inadequate much of the time, but through the tender mercies of our Heavenly Father, we were able to get through.  It was tough, but what we were going through was a blessing.  This year taught us the meaning of sacrifice, in the truest sense of the word.  The life we had was already great, but we gave up our time with our girls and most of the time our sanity, so that we could build our amazing new life in our new home.  Even as I write this, I feel guilty, because we are so blessed, and there are so many that I know that went through truly horrific things this year.  I know many who wish that the hardest thing they had to do was spend thirty hours a week building a new home.  The Lord has blessed us this year with health, happiness, prosperity and joy and we hope to be able to pass that on.  My new resolutions are:

• No more yelling at my kids
• Sew a quilt!
• Go to the temple once a month
• Have family night every Monday
• Learn a new challenging piano piece
• Start going to book club
• Finish our backyard
• Finish the BOM
• Make dinner 3 days a week (a little more realistic for me)
• Pay off one major debt

I'm excited!  Happy New Year!

 

So Close, it Hurts

Well, it's finally happening!  We will be moving in to our new house, after almost 8 months of building, the Saturday after Thanksgiving!  Eek!    We had our open house on Friday, but we have to finishe some landscaping and odd and ends, then an inspection on Wednesday.  Our house and another house are completely done, but we have to finish the other two in order to move in.  I am SO beyond excited to be out of this transitional phase and into our house and building our lives there!  No more commuting out to the site, finding babysitters and late nights!  Special thanks to everyone who has helped us through this crazy process!!!