Getting Older

 

Well Phil turns 38 tomorrow so I thought we could come up with 38 things we love about this guy:

1. He teaches us to cook (miya)
2. He got us an Xbox (lyla)
3. He always find time to spend with us (miya)
4. He always helps us read (lyla)
5. He is super friendly (he met a lady on the plane on one of his many trips and heard all about her struggle with infertility and then she invited us out to her farm while we were on vacation in Oregon and we spent a great/weird afternoon hanging out with her and her husband over Memorial day)
6. He loves to have a good time (cannon)
7. Always does projects with us (miya)
8. Sometimes he comes to school to pick us up (lyla)
9. He is a fantastic dad and loves being with his kids
10. He is awesome (cannon)
11. He is always helping other people at work even when they are mad (miya)
12. He makes us laugh all the time (lyla)
13. He always helps out whenever there is a problem (cannon)
14. He is outgoing and has people join in with us (miya)
15. He plays games with us when he has enough time (lyla)
16. He helps us understand school stuff that we don't know (miya)
17. He honors his priesthood
18. He is dependable
19. He is super organized (which means he is super bothered when others aren't so his calling is super good for him ; )
20. He makes me feel important
21. He makes me feel beautiful
22. He makes me feel happy
23. He makes me feel lucky (blessed)
24. He loves his family (mom, dad, sisters, brothers, nieces, nephews, wife, children)
25. He treats friends like family (which means he loves them)
26. He wins at everything and never makes a big deal about it (but is drives me crazy when I loose)
27. He has integrity
28. He is ALWAYS honest
29. He is quick to apologize
30. He is obedient (and he makes is cool)
31. He is an example (he stops and talks to kids in the neighborhood who ask for money about how important it is to work hard and earn what we have)
32. He is a great provider
33. He is a hard worker
34. He is a perfectionist
35. He is an artist (cats out of the bag)
36. He takes us to the park (all kids)
37. He is the best husband
38. He gets even better looking with age and I married a very handsome man almost 15 years ago.

I thought it would be hard to get to 38, but I still have a ton I haven't said. He is a wonderful man and I am so happy I am bless to married to him.

Construction Phase I

 Taking out the sink and old dishwasher, painting all the cabinets and drawers, new plumbing and wiring for all the house, new countertops and appliances; and we thought we could get it all done in just 4 weeks.

 

 Once we got the flooring up and the boards we found hardwoods underneath. We routed out the floor for the warmwire and then did self-leveler before putting in the tile.

 The bathroom once all the walls and floor tiles were torn out and the heated floors and leveler were put in. The kids thought we should put in new walls because it made the bathroom seem so much bigger.

 

 Some of the garbage that had to go to the dump from the kitchen.

 

 We ended up tearing out the whole wall in the dinning room while we were doing the plumbing and new electrical for the bathroom upstairs.

 

All the stuff from the cabinets in the kitchen were boxed up or out on the dinning room table while we repainted to cabinets. We were going to take everything out of the kitchen and put in new cabinets, but all the old once are solid wood, custom built so we didn't want to replace them with inferior products. Now we are trying to find hinges and knobs that will fit the old cabinets because I threw some of the old ones out and nothing seems to be working.

 

 

I didn't post much about the house remodel because it was so crazy during the first stage of demolition and rebuilding trying to get thing ready for the Christmas party at our house in December. Needless to say we are still getting things put back together and sleeping and showering down in the cabin. We worked hard on the bathroom upstairs and almost have it done. We had a trip to Home Depot for FHE to get all the additional odds and ends to wrap it up this week so we can be back in the house and out of the cabin. The kids are ready to be back in their own rooms and beds. It is amazing how long it takes to get things done when you only have a couple hours a week. Phil had been traveling a lot for work and then Saturdays tend to be busy with church meetings and things. We still have the sunroom floor to put back together and trim work and painting in other rooms, but hopefully by the end of the summer we should be wrapping it up. I will take some pictures once we are all done to post. So grateful to have a cabin to live in while all this work is going on.

Cub Scouts

These are just pictures of one of the pack meetings where Cannon was getting some of his scouting badges. I must say I am the worst mother when is comes to scouting. Cannon had been in scouts for a year and still doesn't even have a book or scout shirt. I take him the scouts on Wednesday night, but that is about all I have done. I guess we better shake a leg if we have to have everything signed and finished for this year by his birthday in a few weeks. Poor kid. At least we don't have another boy to following him that I would do a better job with so he wont have anything to compare it to. They just had a bike rodeo that is did a fantastic job at and he got second in the pine wood derby so we are totally failing just yet.

Mother's Day Fun

For primary the kids completed a questionnaire for me about me.

Lyla:

My mom's name is Jamie.
My mom is 38 years old. (we all know anything over 16 is old when you are 6)
My mom spends most of her day cleaning.
If my mom was a superhero, her name would be Supermom.
The best thing my mom cooks is fruit salad.
My favorite thing to do with my mom is read books.
My mom is the best at cleaning.
I love my mom because she takes good care of me and she is herself.


Cannon:

My mom is the best at reading.
If my mom was a superhero, her name would be Mrs. Reader.
The best thing my mom cooks is everything but beans, guacamole, ext.
My favorite thing to do with my mom is go to an amusement park.
My mom is the happiest when she reads.
I know my mom loves me because I'm me!!!
I love my mom because she is herself.


By these answers you can tell kids become more aware of what you are doing all the time sometime in between age 6 and 8. Or I am just doing a better job with the last child. Phil got a great chuckle out of Cannon's answers and my superhero name. To bad Miya wasn't at church with us that day so we could see what she would have said.

Basketball

 Phil and Lyla watching one of Miya's games that Phil was around for.

Miya and Cannon played basketball again this year. Miya was by far the smallest girl on her team and almost the smallest of all the teams except a few of the 2nd and 3rd grade teams. Her coach had never coached before and often yelled things like "hit her" and "take her out" needless to say Miya was not super excited about playing and was more often than not hurt as we left practice. I am hoping to coach next year if we can plan things better with Phil traveling so often and Cannon playing at a gym across town. I was super proud of her for sticking it out and practicing so hard over the season. She got so much better with her shot and going after the ball even with the threat of injury.

 Miya lost her shirt after the first game so she was the "girl with no number" during the season. She finally pulled her hair back in a ponytail about mid-season and I was so proud.

Miya and her coach at the pizza party after the season.

 

Cannon played on a team, but we didn't get any pictures of him for some reason. He had a million little boys on his team, but a super nice guy for a coach. I am sure he misses me as his coach from last year, but he didn't complain about it at all. I left practice last year with every boy crying at least once. Obviously the coach was too nice this year because none of the little boys cried. We did however have two moms fighting in the parking lot one day after practice. They were using horrible language and pushing each other (yes excellent examples) so I kept all the little boys in the gym while the coach went out to get in the middle and break  up the fight. I should the boys my amazing pull-up skills so they were thoroughly impressed by the time things got under control.