35th

Super great pictures of us waiting in line to get on the ferris wheel in Seattle on my birthday. It was a great day spent with Rach and Nate and the sun was out for us the whole time. Phil made sure we ate as much as possible and fit in as many things as we could in one evening. We got some treats, did the underground city tour, rode the ferris wheel, ate dinner at a great little Italian place and came home to these beautiful cookies and pictures the kids made while we were gone.

Miya was super amazed when I told her I was 35 and she came back with whoa you are half-way to 70. Remember the day when 35 was SUPER old and the adult would tell you that they still felt 20...Yeah, I'm there!

Cannon's Biography for School

Hello, I am Cannon Combs and this is me.

 First I would like to talk about two of my favorite people. My mom has influenced my life a lot. She teaches me and comforts me while hard times are going around. She helps me with music, school and other things at home. Her name is Jamie Obrien Combs. Another special person is my dad, Phillip P. Combs. he is often away from home for work. My dad is a very good cook and has a nice sense of humor.
Another, thing that has made me who I am is music. I have loved the piano for three years and have played it for two years but it is still my favorite instrument because of the sound and how simple it is. I also like the violin because it can go well with many other instruments and it can hold a long time. I also love to read. There are some games that I have liked. MINECRAFT is really fun, and it has made me like building a lot more. So much more I built a fort out of old wood fencing! I like chess too. I have beet both my sisters in chess. I tried with my dad but he barely won. I try very hard to be better at everything.

THAT IS ME!

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.