Landon is growing up

    
My sweet little baby is growing up too fast. He is at such a fun age & is very curious about the world around him. Everything seems to fascinate him, especially when it involves his siblings. He loves to "help" in the kitchen & climbed up on the dishwasher himself. He is such a cuddly little guy & is always so happy. He has learned that by being the 4th child in our family that he needs to sing (which acutally sounds more like a scream) when he wants our attention. He is such a little sweetheart.

My sweet babies

 
 

Hallie practicing taking pictures.

Random Pictures of Hallie & Landon

These two have been so much fun lately. This is Landon's first sugar cookie, and from the looks of the picture, I think he likes it.
Hallie always sleeps in the cutest positions. She is such a great big sister to Landon & is always putting her arm around him. It makes me a little nervous when she tries to pick him up. :)
    

Girls Night Out

I have been blessed with some amazing girl friends!!! My friend Julie got a group of us together to go up to the conference center for the General Women's Broadcast. We kept telling her she should move into our ward, since everyone else is in the same ward.
We had such a nice time! We went & stuffed ourselves with rolls & a yummy dinner at Texas Roadhouse (one of my new favorites) & then went to the Conference Center.
It was so nice hearing the prophet speak & the General Relief Society Presidency. They are all such neat women & it was such a neat experience being with those I love and learning more about the truths of the gospel.
 

In the picture: Vanessa, Rena, Julie, Nicole, Me, Analice, Michelle, & Melissa (Michelle's sister-in-law)

Walk for a Cure

    
In September the kids and I walked with our neighbors to support Elizabeth (our neighbor & babysitter across the street) who is diabetic. The walk was a 5K and Landon stayed home with Brian and I went with the kids. We all had a nice time & the kids actually did really well for 3 miles. They loved the lunch at the end & the carnival games.
While the adults were sitting there eating, we looked over to see the kids running to us. I spotted Carson with his new black hair & then saw a glimpse of bright neon green running through the trees. We all started laughing when we saw Jackson! His head was so bright! I'm sure that whoever colored it had a blast. Morgan had hers colored in spots and Hallie wanted hers colored "Pinkalicious" of course. :) The kids had a great time & it was for such a great cause.

Our Beautiful Kitchen

Well, I have been very lazy & haven't blogged for awhile, and now I'm behind. :) Brian finished the cabinets the week of General Conference & they look amazing! He did such a wonderful job on the kitchen.
When I was telling him how amazing I thought he was, he told me that he didn't do anything, but that it was all "God's doing." I said, "Yeah, God made the tree & wood, & gave you the talent, but you are the one that took a piece of solid wood & created beautiful cabinets!" All of this wood was scrap wood from a project at Wood Craft (where Brian has been working) & it was all headed to the garbage! A year ago when Brian found out that this beautiful cherry wood would just be thrown out, he asked if he could use it & this is what he did with it. Needless to say, Brian is very humble about how it all turned out, and probably doesn't want me praising him any more on here, so I'll just write some of my favorite features. :)
* Pull out drawers
* Pull out spice cabinets
* Lots of shelves
* Separate place for pans & trays
* Extra room
* Computer in kitchen
* Knobs & handles ( I LOVE the ones we chose)
* Brian's desire to always want it looking nice, so twice now he has mopped the floor. :)
* Paper towel holders
* Pantry
And, everything else.
One day we were having a Family Home Evening & we told the kids how we have each been blessed with different talents. We explained that Daddy can build things, one of our neighbors knows the inside & outside of cars, another neighbor has helped us many times with our computer, our neighbor across the street is a banker, another one is a vet, etc... We talked about how Heavenly Father has blessed each of us with different talents to be different & to help others.
I am not sure if Brian used his talents to be creative, or if he just wanted me to cook more in the kitchen. Whatever the reason, he is definatly getting more homemade meals & treats. :)
Here are the gorgeous pictures-

When to panic... that is the question

Did you know that to have faith means that you have "confidence in someone or something"- I have LOTS of faith in Brian & so, when he told me he wanted to re-model our kitchen, (after my initial shock) I had total confidence in him. I didn't realize at the time though that HE would be reworking the electrical, the plumbing, the flooring, building all the cabinets, making the countertop for the first time ever, & installing EVERYTHING himself. Not to mention- all the demolition.
I am not a visionary person- I have my own thoughts & glimpses of how things should look, etc. but, I can seldom catch the visions of other people- including Brian. Brian has had this beautiful idea/picture of how the kitchen will look & I have had a hard time catching the vision--- thus, my need for faith.
Through the process, faith hasn't been too hard, especially after he installed the upper cabinets & I FINALLY started to see the vision he had seen all along... that is until last night when the demolition truly started. My sister & I watched him take a mallet & with strength & a little excitement he started to knock the pantry out. We each jumped with each blow to the shelves. Then, Brian was sweet to let me share in his fun (if you call it that) by taking the mallet and having my own whack at the shelf. I think my whack was too soft because the shelf didn't budge. :) He showed me how to properly do it, and I was able to get a little crack in the shelf. I definatly need to work on muscle strength in my arms.
Last night he took the pantry apart, and today the demolition of the rest of the kitchen began. He turned off the water to finish the plumbing & when I went to rinse off Landon's dishes from lunch, I forgot I didn't have water, and then realized it didn't matter because I don't even have a kitchen sink. Looks like it will be Little Ceasars & paper plates for the next 3 nights. :)
So, these are pictures of our kitchen before & during the demolition. I CAN'T wait to put the pictures on here once everything is complete!!! Let's just say, there is a really intelligent brain inside my man's cute head. :)