Clay's Work Party

Clay had a work party earlier in December that was supposed to be adults only. Our babysitter however, fell through at the last minute so we decided that since Clay is the boss it would be ok for him to break the rules and bring Peyton. She actually turned out to be the life of the party and was on the dance floor more than anyone else...one of Clay's employees gave her the pompoms which made her even happier.

Sunday Morning

So Peyton was sick the Sunday before Christmas and didn't get to don the Christmas Dress Grandma Gardner got her so mom decided to give it try the Sunday after Christmas. Unfortunately she and Gavin weren't really up for a photo shoot...although we thought these were cute. Thanks Grandma Dee Dee...We Love You!

Clay's New Car

So back in October Clay was transfered back down to Vista Knoll (next to Oceanside) where he started 3 years ago with the Ensign Group. He knew it was going to be a nice commute (about 45 min) but didn't really consider the cost of gas in his pathfinder (3 fill-ups/wk = $150.00 = $600/month), ouch! So after a few months of just sucking it up, no pun intended, he decided to buy his first ever "Brand Spanking New" car. It was hard for him to give up no car payments but his gasguzzler just wasn't cutting it. He went for a very fuel efficient, clean for the environment, $1300 tax incentivized Jetta TDI Clean Dissel SportWagon. Paul Christensen turned him on to the car and he just couldn't get the 42miles/gallon out of his head. Whatever you do don't call it "cute" as a few of his employees have, he prefers "sporty" which isn't much better but will have to do.

The new house!

Ok..... So we still have to decorate and I still need to take pictures of the upstairs.... But I thought I would give a little preview.

It's amazing... I am not gonna lie... I didn't think we could pull it off.


Drum roll please..............................

Before....

After....

KITCHEN BEFORE.....

AFTER.....


STAIRCASE BEFORE....
AFTER.....
FAMILY ROOM BEFORE....
AFTER.... I will post upstairs soon.... = )

M.I.A.

My husband has been SO busy for months! The poor guy has more stress in his life right now then ever before! But on the bright side... we are almost done!!!!

As many of you know we purchased a "crap hole" townhouse for a decent price in a great area. This place was disgusting! Had we not had friends that lived in the same complex that remodeled their place, I don't know that we would have taken this on. Since we had seen theirs... we knew it had potential. We took ownership in March and Clay has been working so hard to fix it up so we can move in. We knocked down walls, cut holes in other walls, ripped down drywall, pretty much gutted it down to the studs! Here are some of the before pictures... (it's a shame you couldn't smell the place before!!! Nothing can capture the gross smell!)

The back of the house (serious termite damage)

The hallway upstairs

The kitchen before demo

The kitchen after demo and ripping out the wall

The front of the house

This is a preview of things to come...

This is the front of the house after many LONG months

I will post more "After" pictures in the next week. Flooring and counter tops are going in this week!!! YEA!! There is a light at the end of the tunnel!

I just want to thank Clay for all the time and sweat he has put into this house to make it nice for our family! I can't imagine how tired he is! He pretty much has two full time jobs (and they are both to take care of his family) I love you babe! Thanks for all your hard work!!

Two exciting events...

These were two exciting events for us this week. Gavin had his first piano recital. He did so well. He had three songs that he had to memorize. Nice work Gav! We are so proud of you!

Peyton is OFFICIALLY crawling on all fours! She use to scoot and lunge forward, as of yesterday she crawls on all fours! Big girl!!!

What have we been up to?

This was just a cute picture from a couple days ago at the pool

P-Girl

She is SO close to crawling (which means my life is over!)

I got out of shower and this is how I found them! So cute!

Things around her have been SO crazy and busy. We hardly ever see Clay and we were all getting a little sad. Last Sunday we were so exhausted and sad, that we decided to take the day off and just be together (much needed). We had a blast, we went on a treasure hunt and hiked around Crystal Cove. It was just what the Dr. ordered and we are now ready to get back to our crazy life for another couple months.

Happy Easter!!!

We had such a great Easter! Saturday night we dyed Easter eggs and got ready for our annual Demolition Egg Derby. I was so ready to win! Turns out I lost miserably! Didn't even make it to the second round! Gavin was the champion. Sunday morning we woke up, found our Easter baskets and went on an Easter egg hunt. We had a good breakfast then headed to church. After church we went to Grandma and Grandpa Smith for some Easter dinner and fun! We had a good day together!

Messy hands!!

The start of the Demolition Egg Derby

Gavin's victory lap

The winning Egg!

Daddy and his little girl!

My favorite people!

Mom and her little girl

Easter egg hunt and Grandma and Grandpa's

The cousins

Bedtime

Gavin's favorite thing to do before bed is take a picture with his Sis on his bed. He ALWAYS lays out his blanket and wants her to lay by him. It is so cute! Here is the two latest.