our vacation before our vacation

happy thanksgiving week!  i honestly can't believe how quickly it has snuck up on me, but i will gladly take it.  the holidays are the best!  to kick-start the beginning of this wonderful season, we spent the weekend up at our friends cabin at fish lake.  we had such a great time!  we feel so extremely blessed to have such good friends, and even though we don't get to see them very often, we're so glad for the times we do get to hang out...and try to soak up every single minute.

we followed sam & penny down there and arrived around 8 pm.  it started snowing about 30 minutes before we arrived and those last 30 minutes were spent on the edge of my seat :)  i hate driving in the snow.  our cute little ford focus couldn't quite make it up that final hill to the cabin so i got out to push (where i probably did more damage than good!)  sam & brett came to the rescue along with two other cabin neighbors who must have heard the ruckus and offered the use of their muscles.  we couldn't have done it without them!

once we were up the hill, and our things were brought inside, we caught up with everyone and got the kids tucked into bed.  sam & penny brought up a delicious chicken noodle soup and sam whipped up a batch of homemade pretzels (which were delicious!)  it was such a cozy night and we stayed up wayyy too late enjoying ourselves, playing games, eating, talking, eating some more, and having such a good time.

saturday was another perfectly lazy, cozy day.  the boys (including max!) took off for some target practice with their guns, while most of the girls hung back and chatted away in the warm cabin :)  penny is due with their first baby in less than three weeks, and lauren is due with their first in march so much of our talk revolved around babies!! yay for babies :)

the boys got back just in time for lunch (go figure!) and the rest of the day was filled with...can you guess?? games, food, and laughter!  it really was the perfect weekend.  max and avery had a fabulous time (they were totally spoiled) and couldn't get enough of the lincoln logs, the doll house, and uncle caleb :)  oh, and the starbursts, red vines, and cheetos were also pretty high up on their list of favorite things as well.  i think we all throughly enjoyed ourselves and are already looking forward to next year!

//check out last years trip to fish lake here//

friday musings.

love these two!

slowly but surely

progress in the home renovation department is always on the slower side around here (due to two energetic little ones and a husband in school!) but it happens!  and every little bit counts :)

the past little while we've had two projects to tackle:

first up, the mudroom!

after installing new drywall, mudding, patching, and priming, we were ready for paint!  the first color i chose (cumulous cloud by martha stewart) was a little too blue for my liking (it clashed with the blue kitchen walls).  of course, i realized this after we brought it home!  but, lucky for us, the kind people at home depot were so wonderful to add and subtract colors until it was just the gray i was looking for (dolphin tail by glidden).  

once the room was painted we were able to finally (we've had them for months!) install the cabinet & shelving we bought at ikea.  we were also able to get rid of this eye sore and put everything neatly away.  yay!!! 

(max loves to help his daddy.  we got him a "tool set" for his birthday and he thinks it's just about the coolest thing ever.)

i'm still trying to figure out the shelves (and what i want to display) but for now, it's holding the three appliances we use most in our home: the whirley pop (best popcorn ever!! buy yourself one for christmas :), our blend-tec, and my beloved pressure cooker :)  eventually i want to put up hooks under the bottom shelf for coats, and put a little bench/basket for shoes/etc...but until then, i'm happy as a clam!  this room looks so so much better.  (for evidence see part one and part two of the process!)

our second project involved electric work, studs, insulation, and drywall.  this playroom is going to be the best room in the house!!  our amazing neighbors + friends spent a huge chunk of their saturday helping us out.  they are so knowledgeable and skilled at building and have taught us so much.  we couldn't have done it without jeff + kim (and jayda, who entertained the kids while we worked!)  we couldn't let them sneak away without snapping a picture, but this is the best we could do :)

the first thing to tackle was the electricity.  it was a beast and i honestly have no idea how they did it but somehow they transformed this mangled mess:

...into this!!!!  isn't it beautiful? (i never thought i'd think an exposed light switch was beautiful, but it is!)

my main job was helping out with the insulation (i stapled while danny cut them to size) but i was glad to finally be of assistance.

here is the room in all its drywalled glory!!  ahhhh.  what a wonderful sight!  we've still got plenty to do (and not enough time to do it!) but most of the difficult things are out of the way.  hallelujah!

and in case you've forgotten what we started with, here is a little reminder...complete with a popcorn ceiling, wallpaper glued onto cement walls, nasty blue carpet, and makeshift 2 x 4's.  i'd say it's come a long way :)

a toy story halloween.

i'm a little behind in the obligatory halloween post, but here it is!!  a few months ago, max got an idea planted in his head that he would not let go of: "i am going to be buzzlightyear (said really fast) for halloween!!!"

lucky for him, we found buzz on sale + we had some disney money so buzz lightyear was free!  that's always a definite bonus.  avery's costume (little bo peep!) cost a little more + was a labor of love from me (i managed to somehow make her costume!  that was a miracle!) but ohmygoodness she was darling.  

they had many opportunities to get decked out in their halloween attire.  tuesday was storytime at the library & later that day we trick-or-treated with the town!  it was a lot of walking for max who refused to get in a stroller, but we survived!

and wednesday was playgroup where max got to go for a ride in the wagon with all of his little buddies :)

that night, after our traditional halloween soup, we headed out to our ward's trunk-or-treat.  the kids scored big time and avery caught on much too quickly!  in a dream world, i would have had enough time to get together mine + danny's costumes (woody and jessie) but the fact that avery actually had a dress to wear (that fit her!!) was good enough for me.  i went as a cat...there must be a cat somewhere in toy story...right?? and danny went as...mr. potato head?  ha.  my mom sent us those cute mustaches (which we had a little too much fun with, as you will see below!)  all in all, it was a wonderful halloween night.  oh, and did i mention how beautiful the weather was for us??  the kids didn't need jackets until the sun went down.  amazing!