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.

I Love these faces!

So...

Gavin has been making me cry left and right these days! He is just so sweet to his sister and he is just growing so fast! I figured this story was worth sharing...

Gavin: "Mom I have been praying for Peyton every morning and night to feel better, but she is getting worse!"

Mom: "That is so sweet! You know... she really isn't getting worse, she hasn't gotten a fever or a runny nose. She may not be getting better as fast as you want, but your prayers are helping her not get worse."

Gavin: "I wish it was me not her! I wish I was sick and not her"

Mom: "Gavin... that is nice but why do you want to be sick, it's no fun."

Gavin: " Well... Mom... it's ok if I die. I am not scared."

Mom: "(fighting through tears) You don't want to die do you? "

Gavin: " I rather it was me, not her because I know when I am a "sin" again (he means spirit, we need to work on that!) that I will be able to breathe and I won't be sick."

Mom: "Well I don't want either of you sick!!!!!"

I was crying, it was so cute!

Such a proud big brother!

The family...

We spent the whole weekend together and it was great!! We started the morning off with a family hike to El Moro, went to lunch, went to the tide pools, hung out with Mandy and Jason. It really was a fun day!