Our beautiful cabinets are here . . .

  We got our cabinets installed today!!! They look amazing. Jordan and I both think they are perfect. I can't believe how it changed all the rooms. So much storage. We also got all the interior doors and trim delivered too. They start getting installed tomorrow. Then all the light switches, plug-ins, smoke detectors, and light fixtures go in this weekend. Flooring will be installed in a week or so. And I think exterior paint, garage doors, plumbing fixtures, and install the appliances is all we have left. Oh yeah, and that pesky tile shower. Wow, we are getting so close.

  The cabinets are Rustic Hickory. We also chose a rustic bronze pulls and knobs to go on them. All the plumbing and lighting fixtures are oil rubbed bronze too.

Kids bath

Our bath

Kitchen. 

Austyn is showing GG all the cupboards and drawers.

Utility room

Memorable Memorial . . .

  We had a blast this Memorial Day. By far my favorite camping trip yet. We went to our usual spot in Coos Bay. We had a few extra families this time which made it all the better. The more, the merrier! Austyn had the time of her life, everything thing she loved to do we did that weekend. She played in her underwear ALL weekend (I think this was her favorite), rode her little quad all by herself, went for Bronco rides, and playing with her buddies. Also she loved everything to do with our camper. Like showering in it, sleeping in her bed, eating in it. She just had the best time ever. Quade did amazing too. And it was a nice relaxing break from the house for Jordan and I. Now to start the last leg of the house project. We had perfect weather most of the time. It started raining on Saturday evening, but it wasn't bad because by then it was dinner time and it made the kids come in a take a break and relax before bedtime. Sunday was a little more overcast and windy, but we spent most of the day on a long Bronco ride. And Monday it poured as everyone was packing up. 

Here is the whole gang

Our first trip as a family of 4

Koda was very tired and ready to be warm and dry

The girls. Best buddies.

Austyn was so excited to go. She could barely stand it.

Here they are ready to ride.

This is the trench that the Daddy's dug and 

they played in it ALL weekend

  We are ready for the last month of the build. Cabinets go in this week and then flooring we are still trying to decide who we are going through and exactly what we are wanting. On a good note the flooring is the only thing that has held us up on our account the entire build, but bad note is that it might hold us up a week or so. I will take the blame for that, because it's so hard to know how things are going to look without seeing any of it. So I was going to wait for the cabinets to go in and then go get the flooring samples and decide. It may put us back a little bit, but it's worth it to get it right and to love what we've picked. 

  I'll keep you updated on the house and hopefully get some new pictures of it. Hope everyone had a safe and fun Memorial Day weekend.

I took a few pictures of Austyn on Mothers Day. She looked so cute I couldn't resist.

Camping Bound . . .

  The inside of the house is painted and now ready for flooring and cabinets. Which should happen next week sometime. We love the inside color. I was really nervous about it because I just picked it one day at the paint store and we didn't get samples or anything. But it turned out great. It's called fresh linen. In between white and tan. It's pretty subtle. I can't believe we are like a month or so away from moving in. I'm loving this part of the build. We picked out all our flooring and got all of our light fixtures bought. I just need to pick out lights for the kids bath and pendent lights for the kitchen island. Jordan pretty much has everyone that's left all lined out to come one after another and get things done.Things we have left to do: Light fixtures and plug-ins can be installed, cabinets, floors, plumbing fixtures, appliances installed, interior doors and trim, and the  garage doors. And somewhere along the line we need to tile the master shower. I think that's the only thing that's still up in the air if we are going to tackle that project or have someone come do it. I think we are waiting to see how much money we have left in the budget. I'm thinking we are probably going to do it ourselves. All in all, we are so close to the end and things are going perfectly still.

  The kiddos are wonderful. Austyn is still the light of our lives and makes me laugh all day long. I can't believe how funny a two year old can be. I was laying down the other night with her before bed and I caught myself laughing with her like I would with a good friend. When I realized what we were doing I was hopeful that we will be close friends always. She is definitely my little buddy. I ask her to count everything while we do things and the other day I caught her counting backwards. What?! Where the heck did she learn that??? Thank you Micky Mouse Clubhouse. That 45 minutes in the mornings really does work. Quade is still so easy and sweet. He is the most laid back baby. He is starting to giggle a lot more now. And he has such a boy laugh. I love it. I think I have the hardest time making him laugh, but it's so sweet when he does do it. Brings tears to my eyes.

  Jordan is very ready for the house to be done. As am I. It's been very quick, but a lot of work. He has started doing the back fill around the house. His next projects are putting down underlayment in the bathrooms, installing all the plug ins, light switches, and light fixtures, and doing all the trim. It seems like his list keeps getting longer the closer we get to being done. But as always, he has a great attitude about it.

  I am doing good. Still doing my workouts and eating a little better. Which has made all the difference in my results. I have lost 11 pounds and 11 total inches so far. I'm very happy with my results. I am down to my pre-pregnancy weight and size. Now I would like to lose another 10 or so. Been losing a little motivation lately, but I'm still doing it about 3-4 times a week.

  We are going camping this weekend and we are all so excited to go. I just hope the weather isn't nasty the whole time. Austyn is barely able to talk about anything else but camping. We are having a few more people than usual, which will be so much fun. We will have 13 adults, a 4 year old, a 3 year old, 2-21/2 year olds, a 1 1/2 year old, a 4 month old, a 3 month old, and a 2 month old. It will be baby central.

  Sorry no pictures. Nothing has changed at the house that you can see in pictures. I will post pictures after camping. Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Memorial Day weekend.

Insulation and Sheetrock . . .

  We got the insulation and sheetrock up. Wow, what a difference it makes. It looks like a real house now. I'm amazed at how high the ceilings look. They are 9 foot ceiling throughout with a 13 foot vault in the living room and they look enormous. I just can't believe how far along the house is. Which means we are so close to moving in. It will take the plaster about 2 weeks to dry and cure and then it's time to paint!! We picked out the paint colors for inside and out. And I think the only thing left to decide on is the flooring. We know what type of flooring we are doing, we just need to pick out the color of carpet and linoleum for the bathrooms. Jordan and I have done great throughout this whole process. Not one fight or big disagreement. I think the only disagreement we have had is the exterior paint color. I wanted to do brown tones and he said he didn't care as long as it wasn't browns, greens, yellows, or blues. That didn't leave me too many options. Our pump house is gray and white and that is what our shop will eventually be too. He wanted to match those, so I compromised with gray. Not too bad, considering everyone we talked to said this was going to be the hardest thing on our marriage. That wasn't the case at all! We also are getting our septic tank put in. That will be nice to have out of the way. This was the one big problem we had with the county and I'm still holding my breath and praying it all goes well and the inspector is having a good day when it gets called in. Cross your fingers!

Living room insulation

Living room sheetrock

Living room sheetrock

Austyn in her bedroom! She is so excited to move in.

Septic tank

Austyn loves riding on the backhoe

Our front door. I absolutely love it. It will look

so nice when it gets the stain on.

 The kids are doing great. Austyn is really enjoying this warm weather. She loves playing soccer, blowing bubbles, and wading in the river. We do these everyday all day. She is so use to playing outside that it is a struggle when we have to stay in to get things done IN the house. She definitely takes after her father, the second she steps out of the house she is filthy. I don't know how it happens, but she finds a way. Which is fine with me, it just amazes me sometimes how fast it can happen. She informed me the other day that she loves to get dirty. Well she is 100% the right kind of kid for us, because I'm not too sure what we would do if we had kids that didn't like to get dirty. Quade is doing amazing. He loves to sit up now. We pulled the bumbo chair and the jumper out. He may be a little young for them now, but in a few weeks he'll be just right. He likes to sit in them for a little bit until he gets tired. He is still sleeping for 8 hours and is eating 4 oz now. I'm thinking he is ready for 4 1/2 here in the next few days. He has chunked up like crazy and gotten so much longer. He is the best baby!

He is starting to giggle now. 

Apparently she didn't want her picture taken. And this

is what happened when I did it anyways. 

  Jordan is getting ready for a PROMOTION at the end of May!!! Finally, all his hard work is going to pay off. I'm so proud of him. He is still so busy with the house stuff, there are endless side projects that he has been and still needs to get done. He has enjoyed learning all the odds and ends during the build.

  I am doing good too. My back has been really good since I've had Quade. I'm still doing good with the Insanity workouts. I've lost 6 pounds and need to measure myself again to see how many inches so far. I've now started focusing on my diet. It's hard to eat clean when Fruit Loops and PBJs sound so much better than fruits and veggies. But I've got to do it. Trying to make a lifestyle change instead of just getting into shape and then going back to how I was eating and exercising. I do feel great since I've started working out and eating better. I think drinking more water helps everything too. I'm so excited to move into the new house. I can't wait.

  Enjoy the warm weather.

Our Crazy Wonderful Life . . .

  Lately I can't help thinking that I'm the luckiest person in the world. When I step back and look at our life, it does nothing but put a smile on my face. NOT IN ANY PARTICULAR ORDER 1-We are building the home of our dreams. Something that not a lot of people get to do, especially at 27 years old. So in that, I'm extremely proud that we are able to do that. A place where our kids will grow up and learn so many things that comes along with country living. Valuable lessons that will help them throughout their lives. 2- I'm married to my best friend and true sole mate (I know kind of sappy). His positive traits truly make up for my negative ones and vise versa. That's why we are perfect for each other and work so well together. 3- The two best kids in the ENTIRE world. I'm not too sure how else to express how great they are. Austyn is the most polite, smart, FUNNY, fun, cute, and sassy 2 year old. She is so brave and adventurous. And I love how she likes to get dirty. I also love how she likes to get pretty and dressed up. Honestly you couldn't ask for any better of a kid. And Quade is my little sweet boy. My mom swears he doesn't know how to cry. And daily she tells me how disgustingly good he is. He really is. Honestly the only time he fusses is when he's hungry, poopy (if I didn't notice him going), or tired. And the majority of the time not even then. He has gone entire days without any crying. He sleeps 6-9 hours and NEVER cries to be feed at night. He only grunts when he wants me to get him up. He has the most loving blue eyes that just melt my heart every time he stares at me. He loves to be snuggled and loved. I get so selfish with him, that I only want him for myself. It's so hard to share him with ANYONE (even Jordan). I don't think any mother could love her children more than I love mine. 4- I'm able to stay home with our wonderful kids. But still able to step right back into the perfect job (for me anyways) whenever I need to or want to. 5- Having family so close to us all the time. With Jordan's work schedule and off work schedule it's a true God send to have the family that I do so close and so eager and willing to help. I wouldn't be able to do it without them. I tried to imagine my life away from my family. Even a few miles away, but it wasn't possible. Thank you Grandpa and Grandma for working so hard to create this family circle. It wouldn't have been possible without you. I know in my eyes this is the most perfect life anyone could ever dream of.
  We unfortunately have experienced quite a few deaths lately, but also have had quite a few births. It's definitely the circle of life, but it got me thinking of how fortunate we all are to have each other and each passing day. Some deaths were expected, some were not, and some just weren't fair. It is so easy to get caught up in the day to day hustle and bustle of life and take things for granted. For some reason the amount of deaths really affected me and I found myself needing to take things slower, appreciate the little things, and just enjoy life more. Because we never know when God's going to call our name. It was a reality check/wake up call to change a few ways of thinking for me. And for that I'm thankful.

  Enough of the sappy stuff and on with the house stuff. Jordan and his crew poured our garage floor. Thank you everyone for all your help. He also got all the trenching done that he wanted. And my Dad and him are in the process of building our pump house, which will double as a storage shed. We unfortunately came across a few snags and are held up for a week or so (hopefully not too much "so") but there are plenty of things that are still getting done.

The concrete crew

Elliott fell in the concrete

The finished project. Jordan and my Dad stayed

until 11pm to finish 

Late night at the house

The pump house

  The kids are wonderful. Quade had his 2 month check up. He weighed 12 lbs. 4 oz. and was 22 1/2 inches long. They said everything was perfect with him. Austyn is like I said earlier, amazing. She has such a big imagination right now, and is so fun to listen to her version of the stories. And then each time she tells them listen to how they change as the story goes on. She does try to push her limits, but when called on it she will shape up pretty quickly. She no doubt about it is in the "2's" stage, but I think of it more as the terrific 2's. I would hate to think of any stage with my kids terrible or miserable. Don't get me wrong, there have been stages that I like more than others, but never any age that I dreaded. I looked through our pictures and found a picture of Austyn and Quade at the same age in about the same pose. They look pretty similar, but everyone I showed it to could tell the difference easily.

Austyn is top and Quade is bottom

  And I again, am still trying to keep up with everyone else. I started the Insanity workouts a week ago. That is a perfect name for it, because it is so insane. I actually really love it. It is so challenging and also so rewarding to watch myself get better and better. I have only lost 3 so far, but at least I'm doing something in the exercise area. Maybe blogging about my progress with keep me motivated to stick with it. I tend to dwindle if I don't see results or if I miss a day. Wish me luck!

  Sorry about the mushy stuff at the beginning of the blog. I just started writing and that's what it ended up being. Maybe it was my way of a positive vent session. Hope all is well with everyone. Thanks for keeping up with us.

Roof, windows, and siding . . .

  It has been awhile since my last post. Busy busy, you know! But since then we got the roof on the house, all the windows in, the plumber and the heating guys came back to finish their next stages, and the siding is  on. Jordan and my family have been doing all the electrical too. They are so handy! Next thing is to do the insulation and then drywall. Jordan still has many extra projects to do like, trenching in all the electrical and water lines to the house, building our pump house, and pouring the concrete in the garage floor. He has stayed very very busy. We also got all of our appliances. They will have to stay in our shop for awhile, but we'll have them ready to go. We picked out the color of the outside of the house (gray and white), and now we just have to pick out the color of carpet and paint in the house. I'm thinking a light tanish color all the way around. We'll see, I'm not good that the decorating part of things. We get a few inspections this week. So if all goes well, we can start the insulation shortly after.

Before siding and windows

Windows being put in

Siding and windows in !!!!

  Quade is doing good. He unfortunately got RSV when he was only two weeks old. We all got sick, but I was so worried about him. It was so sad. Made me want to cry (ok I did a little, maybe a lot. Damn hormones!!). He weighed 9 lbs 4 oz at his 2 week check up. He's going to be a big boy. He is starting to lose his dark hair just like Austyn did. He is sleeping so well already. He will sleep anywhere from 6-9 hours a night. We are all very thankful. It's nice to be rested again. He is quite the little eater too. We can only go 2 hours in between feedings during the day, but I'm good with that if he sleeps good at night. So far he is very easy. Hope he keeps it up. He is starting to coo and smile, so sweet. Here are a couple pictures I took with Jordan's Fire gear. The ones that I edited turned out so good. But unfortunately the file is so big it wouldn't upload any of them. But these ones are still good.

  Austyn is doing wonderful. She is the light of our lives. I just can't get over how wonderful she is. She could stay this age for ever in my eyes. She has become quite the little climber these days. She will climb on anything and everything. I was bent over the bathtub giving Quade a bath and she was in there watching. All of a sudden I noticed her climbing on my back. She was kneeling on my back while I was giving a bath to Quade and I barely noticed. I'm either very tired or very numb. We were in Home Depot the other day picking out bathroom fans and I looked up to see where she was and she was on the second shelf of an end cap on the isle, just looking at people as they walked by her. Yes, we have become THOSE parents. Oh well, at least she was having fun and didn't hurt anything. She is also enjoying working over at the house. She loves to just wander around by herself and climb on the dirt and rock piles. I'll walk around the house to check on her and she will tell me that she's fine and to go back in the house. So cute. She also got sick, she got croup :( It was horrible. I felt so bad for her. That was a rough few weeks at our house, with two sick babies.

  Jordan is so busy. Story of his life. He is doing an amazing job with scheduling all the people for the house and doing all the projects that come up. I know he enjoys doing things like this and he is so good at everything he does. His next big projects are building a pump house for our water system and pouring the garage concrete. I'm sure they will turn out perfectly like everything else.

  I am doing fine. Not too much going on with me. Just trying to keep up with everyone else. Trying to figure out a way to lose the rest of the weight that didn't come off with Quade. It's a little harder now with two kids. Not too much EXTRA time to workout. If anyone has any ideas PLEASE let me know.

Quade Christopher . . .

  Welcome baby Quade!!! So nice to finally meet this little joy. He weighed 8 lb 8 oz, 21 in long, 14 in head, and was born 2-13-13 at 12:04pm. Everything went so well. I only pushed for 15 minutes and got one tiny little stitch. Much better than last time :) We stayed in the hospital for 1 day and then couldn't wait to get home. So different this time. With Austyn Jordan and I both wanted to stay longer. We are all doing good. Kids are doing wonderful. Mommy and Daddy are so exhausted it's not even funny. Another difference than the first time. I never got this tired when we had Austyn. But this time I've never been so tired in my life. And Jordan too. Between the tiredness and the wild and crazy hormones it can get a little interesting in our house. Austyn has been watching Dumbo lately and everytime Dumbo's mother rocks him in her trunk I loose it. Not just teary eyes, full out bawl. :) Poor Jordan. Now we just laugh when it happens but, WOW is all I can say. Hopefully those damn hormones will even out a little bit here soon.

Proud proud Daddy!!!

He's a thumb sucker

Austyn loves her baby brother. She told us "Thank you

so much Mommy and Daddy for bringing me baby Quade"

 
  The house is also coming along just great. We have all walls up and the trusses on. Roof will start at the end of next week I think. Jordan and my Dad have been working so hard over there. Can't wait to see the inside start taking shape.

This is the bonus room over the garage

  Austyn has not even blinked an eye at Quade coming home. She has actually been acting a little less sassy. She is so funny lately. Her imagination and animation are amazing to just sit and watch. I love her at this stage. I have been soaking up every moment with Quade, because I know how fast it went with Austyn.

  Jordan is being a trooper. Between all the house stuff, the baby, no sleeping (apparently I still am snoring), my hormonal flares, and having canker sores in his mouth, I'd say he doing as good as can be expected. He has to go back to work on March 2nd. We will miss him horribly, but I'm sure he will be a little relieved to get back to the boys club with no babies or hormones :)