Thought you'd like to know...

how our day started. Well, actually, this started yesterday morning. And hasn't stopped.
This is looking out our front door at about 8am today.


I took this about 20min ago. Just thought you'd like to see our progress.

You can't really see how deep it is from this. I'd say we've got about 2 feet on the grass. Just a little less on the sidewalks.

You wanna know what really stinks? I discovered that I can fly out of Missoula to LA for $9.

Please send spring!

Updates galore!

Hey, we got our computer fixed! And, we got to keep everything on our hard drive! YEAH!!! I would still recommend that you backup your pictures though. Anyway, I have been posting for like, an hour, to get you all caught up. And it's funny, while I've been posting, people have been checking our blog alot. So, here's a head's up, there's a couple of posts in a row and I promise, I have tried not to say much. I just have to tell you two funny stories. First, Emma asked what I was doing. I told her that I was putting pictures up so that our friends and family would know what we've been doing lately. Then I thought about how self centered I am because I actually think that you care! I mean, besides our parents and siblings. Anyway, I don't know about you guys, but I really look at all of the blogs on my list at least once a week. Anyway, other story. Never mind, I just realized it's even more dull than the last one. So, enjoy the pictures. Glad you could see me.

The Quilt

That's supposed to read, the quilt. Like, the only one in the world. Because I feel like it is. It has
taken over my life. And for some reason, I'm in love with it. It's going to be hard to give it away.
Thanks to all who helped out with this venture! Couldn't have done it without you! (really) We had two experienced quilters come and help us hand quilt this sucker and they worked like dogs for a day and a half to get this done on time. I'm taking it over to the Scottish Rite today to get it ready for the auction. So, here are some pictures of my baby. Please, don't ever underestimate a quilt ever again. Way more work than I ever thought.



I will keep you informed of any fights.

Party!

We recently had some house guests. One of them, unfortunately, is a massage therapist (pity). Timothy hurt his knee playing basketball one night and she offered to help him out with it. It was pretty funny, at least to me, and I thought I'd share it with you. Don't think that I'm totally heartless. It was a good pain...kinda. At least it feels better now.

One night we had some friends over for a BBQ and Timothy decided to build him a fire. We don't have a fire pit so he used a large dutch oven (didn't know we had one of those either...). It was pretty fun. The kids loved roasting marshmallows.

Kaylee threw a little fit when Timothy tried to help her with her marshmallow. I thought it was kinda funny. She's really, really, 2.

Easter

Here is a quick run-down of our Easter weekend. I will try not to say too much as a picture says a thousand words.
Saturday we went out to Timothy's aunt's house. The community there puts on a fantastic Easter egg hunt.

Then out to the ranch for the usual farm fun. Kaylee wouldn't even go near the tractor but we managed to get Emma into it. Notice the 'scared fingers'.


Not so sure about sitting up there by herself...

And of course, Easter Sunday. I don't remember if I said that I was making dresses for the girls or not. But, I did. The only problem was, I don't really sew. I picked a really easy pattern. Then made the dresses sizes 3 and 5 for my 2 and 3 year olds. Why? Because they're both tall. Kaylee is almost in size 3 and Emma is almost in size 5. However, these dresses have a large neckline. Oh well. They'll grow into them. Sorry the picture is not so great, we were running late for Church. (anyone shocked?)

We had the missionaries and some friends over for dinner. I was not so proud of my turkey but I loved my cakes! Aren't they so cute? I'm pretty much amazing. (p.s. they're supposed to be bunnies, not guinea pigs, as some people thought. Whatever, I still think they're cute.)

Then we did our own Easter egg hunt and played in the yard. All in all, a great weekend.

Update

Well, this will be fast because my battery is going on me. So, we got a virus about two weeks ago on our computer and are still waiting for some stuff from Dell. We are probably going to lose everything on our hard drive. Lesson: back up your pictures. That is also why I have not updated in a while. We are currently borrowing a friend's laptop. Thanks guys. Anyway, on to other things.
Some of you know that Kaylee doesn't talk. She will be two in May. I thought it was kinda strange that she didn't even make an attempt, for the most part, to talk. So, after some testing, we discovered that she has childhood speech apraxia. Which means, her brain cannot make her mouth say the things she wants it to. She is in speech therapy and is really starting to progress. She babbles alot now and says some words. They are also teaching her and encouraging sign language. We are all learning that now. But she's got probably 20 words with sign language and she picks at least one up a day. So, at least she can communicate now. The speech therapist hopes that by the time she is in kindergarten, she will be on par with her peers. Things are looking good. Let me tell you about this amazing program though. She attends the speech and language clinic through the Scottish Rite. The Scottish Rite is a fraternity organization much like the Shriner's or the Free Masons. So, what it comes down to is, this is a totally free service. (Well, free to us.) Which is amazing because a therapy session here runs around $150/half hour session and is not covered by most insurance policies. (p.s. It's probably pricier where you live because everything is cheaper here.) Kaylee gets to have a session a week. We are so grateful for people who donate money to fund programs like this. I know that a lot of people have been benefited by the Shriner's. These are just amazing programs and people who are trying to be like the Savior. The speech clinic here has a fundraiser once a year, coming up at the end of April. They sell tickets for dinner and then there is a live and a silent auction. (If anyone will be in town on the 30th and wants dinner, let me know!) Anyway, we sell tickets to friends and family and I have decided to make a quilt to put in the auction. Yeah! I'm really excited about this quilt deal. I have never made a quilt before but I have a friend who is helping me. I hope that it turns out really cute and makes some money. Mostly, I want for there to be a cat fight over it right in the middle of the auction. Or, at least a bidding war.
Anyway, that's our news for now.
If anyone is interested in the Scottish Rite, look them up online (I don't have an address, but google them). If you're interested in helping out programs like it or similar, they are really worthy causes. They don't even require monetary donations, they love volunteers, or new or used toys or office equipment. (That was my plug, I will not bring it up again, unless to tell you about the thousands that my quilt raises.)

Cookies & Closets

So tonight, Timothy and Emma made a fort. After playing for a while, Emma told me that they were going to make chocolate cookies while they were in the fort. I pointed out that their fort didn't have an oven. So, out they came to make a giant chocolate cookie. They're so cute!
The fort. (They did not pose this picture. They're just a lot alike)

The cookie.


Inside the fort, after Emma decided that they would be spending the night in it.

On another note, we have almost finished another project. We have almost finished so many projects now. It's really nice. I just hope we don't have to move anytime soon. Doesn't it seem like projects don't get really done until you move? Sad. Anyway, I don't have before's so let me explain. In our main floor bathroom there was a closet that we used as Timothy's. (It was a nice, large closet. Not a linen closet. That would have been weird.) Then, in our bedroom, there was a closet of about the same size. There was a wall dividing them. Well, Timothy knocked the wall out and now we have a nice large closet and we can walk through from bathroom to bedroom. It's as close to a master bath as I think we'll get in this house. I really love it. Anyway, here's some shots. We haven't patched or painted and, of course, the floor needs to be done. But it's fully functional!

From the bedroom.

A slightly overlapping shot, showing the other corner.

From the bathroom.

Timothy's ode to ties. The door to the bathroom is just to the right.

Well, that's that.

An Ode to Melissa

This is just a little note about a cousin of mine whom I love. She has started an awesome website with helpful info for all. If you are interested in being a little bit healthier in your life, check it out. I've started stalking it regularly. Thanks Meliss for takin' the time! You're awesome! Enjoy all!
p.s. It's under my links as the diabetic diet.

Preschool

Emma started preschool in September and has been loving it. She goes two days a week for two and a half hours. She loves her friends there and everything that she is learning. It is amazing to watch her progress. Her teacher sent home a CD with pictures throughout the year so I thought I'd post some, mostly for Grandmas and Grandpas. There's a ton of pictures here, so feel free to skim. (I tried to post only pictures of Emma to avoid putting pictures of other people's children due to privacy issues, etc.)
I think this one was taken on the first day of school. And I can't figure out how to turn it.

Here's Halloween.

Emma loves glue. Seriously.

Learning about machines.

Making cookies.

Painting with pudding?

On a field trip to the pet store.

Well, that's that.

Bathrooms, Black eyes, & Binkies

I finally bought a cable for our camera! Yeah! I know that you are all so excited about that. Sorry that you had to look at the same thing everytime you open your homepage (I know that we are everyone's homepage...right?) Anyway, here are some long over due pictures. First of all, remember way back in the day when we started to redo our bathroom? Well, it's done now. Mostly. Like the rest of our main floor, we have not touched the flooring. But, here are some pictures of that.
Here is the best before picture I've got. I really wish I had one of the sink though. It was wall mounted and maybe, 18" square. Really small, and gross. Also, the shower head sprayed straight down, almost backwards, there was no plumbing up the wall. Or electricity. We had a light, but no outlets. (Bear in mind that this is after I had already started demo.)

And the after... (pretty much the same view.)

Forgive the personal items...

Since these pictures, we have had an outlet installed as well as the missing light blub. P.S. Notice the TP on the shelf? Still haven't put up the holder. It's sitting right next to it. I lost the mounting hardware. And I'm lazy.

So, that's that. I love it. Next up, our new master closet! Stay tuned.
So, a couple of weeks ago, we had the Bishop and his wife over for dinner. Emma was wrestling on the floor with the dog and hit her head (eye) on the pillar in the living room (I think right on the corner of the molding). She had a really nice shiner for over a week. I only took this one picture but should've taken more. Especially when it turned that sickly shade of green.

And then this one just because I like it. I know, I need to get rid of the pacifier. There comes a time in everyone's life... but his boss hasn't said anything, so we'll let him have it. He sleeps so much better with it.

Longest Post EVER!!!

You may think that we fixed our camera cable. You're wrong. My mother-in-law made a CD for us of the pictures that she took while here. Thanks Mom. So anyway, here are some pictures of our Christmas week, a little late, but still good.
Timothy has been wanting to have a Christmas at home since we got married. So, this year, we invited family to our house for Christmas. Grandma Allred was the only one who took us up on that offer. (Although Timothy's brother had a good excuse, they're in Vegas and about to have a baby. I mean, they're at the hospital. We're thinking about you guys! Good luck Jen!!) Anyway, we had a fun week.
Emma has started to really like fairies. She saw the Tinker Bell movie (by the way, did anyone else find that movie disappointing? Peter Pan wasn't even in it. I really thought that it would be much different than it was. OK, promise not to review kids movies anymore.) and has been talking fairies ever since. She got this dress for Halloween and loves to wear her fairy dress. Kaylee got a little bit envious and went for her fairy dress too. I don't think she quite gets it but if Emma is doing it, she has to too.

On Christmas Eve, the girls got new Christmas jammies. There's just something about footed jammies that make kids look so cute!

Before bed Christmas Eve, we sang some Christmas carols. Emma loves to sing, as you can see. And again, Kaylee loves to do whatever Emma is doing.

Christmas morning, we called my Mom and Dad in the Philippines and they got to watch the girls open their stockings (via Skype... I love technology...). After presents, we wanted to take the girls sledding. However, we live in the land of flat. I cannot think of a park with a hill in it. So, Timothy pulled the sled around the park by our house. Which was enough for the babies. He ran around in a circle until the girls tipped over. Emma thought that was great fun. Kaylee was too shocked to even cry. It was pretty funny.


This picture is supposed to be the other way, but I can't figure out how to turn it around.


A couple of weeks before Christmas, we were talking to Emma about how Christmas is Jesus' birthday. She was quiet for a minute and then asked if we were going to have cake and sing the birthday song for baby Jesus. We figured, why not? So after Christmas dinner, we had birthday cake and sang.
I didn't have enough icing to put around the edges of the layers, so it kind of started to settle after I put the cookies on it, but it still tasted wonderful! I love cream cheese. And chocolate. And mint. (p.s. I just made the world's best chocolate chip cookies...yummm. Sister Elford's recipe, melt in your mouth goodness!)

Speaking of cookies, my Grandma Amen makes frosted cream cookies every year for Christmas. These cookies are just as good as money in our family. I mean, you could probably buy just about anything from anyone in the family for a container of cookies. So, anyway, this year, as we stayed home, I did not get any cookies. I decided Sunday before Christmas, that I was going to make my own because, it just wouldn't be Christmas without them. Let me tell you, these are the most ridiculous cookies I have ever made. It takes like, three hours (and like, 10 cups of flour) to make one batch. Plus, the icing is a little bit finicky, I think I overcooked mine by a couple of seconds (or minutes...). Anyway, Linda snapped a picture of me, covered in flour, trying to ice the cookies, piles and piles of cookies. I don't think that I'll make them next year.

Please, don't judge my hair in this picture. It doesn't look fantastic, I'd been making cookies for hours!

Laziness

Just wanted to update to show you that I haven't forgotten. I just haven't gotten the cable for the camera yet. We will. Someday. For now, just imagine pictures.