#Kims40thBash

Happy 40th birthday, Kim! 

Last weekend I headed to Las Vegas to celebrate my older sister's 40th birthday. Ryan took off work on Friday to watch the kids, and I was off first thing in the morning.

I bought Kim a "40" tiara and an "It's my 40th birthday" sash to wear to the concert. She looked stunning!

For the first time in my entire life (at 35yo), I drove by myself to the airport and put the car in long-term parking. I caught the shuttle, went through TSA alone and found my gate. I also sat in the center seat on the plane (I always make Ryan do it when we are together). It was a weekend of firsts!

When I arrived, my parents picked me up at the airport, and we headed to our hotel. We parked the car but left our bags inside (it was hours before check-in). We ate lunch at Senor Frog's and wandered around the Venetian.

We stayed at Treasure Island. The rooms were clean and great, but the casino was dark and smoky (like all casinos, I guess).

I think gondolas are so picturesque.

Then we headed back to the hotel, checked in and got settled in our rooms.

From my "room with a view." Good morning, Mr Trump!

Again for the first time in my life, I had my own hotel room all alone. Though I missed Ryan, it was totally awesome. So QUIET. That doesn't EVER happen!

When Kim & Rich arrived, we grabbed a cab and headed to see Blue Man Group at the Luxor. Such a fun show! It was pretty expensive, but it was awesome. They moved our seat to the 7th row when we arrived and gave us some neon crepe paper to "decorate ourselves." My dad tied it around his head with a bow on his forehead. (You can see my "headband" in the pic above.) It was awesome. We were all under black lights too, so everyone was glowing.

When I got back home, I searched YouTube for some of my favorite parts to show the boys, and they are all there. We saw the "Rice Krispie Symphony," "Twinkie Feast," "Drumbone," "Pipesharing," and "Paintballs & Marshmallows Toss." Google them when you are bored. So fun!

Towards the end, all these crepe paper rolls were lowered down around the auditorium (think toilet paper dispensers), and we all passed paper over our heads. It's hard to explain, but we basically toilet-papered the whole place. It got a little claustrophobic when mounds of crepe paper were tossed on my head, but it was so fun.  A total party. I highly recommend going if you ever have the chance. Fun stuff.

That night we got fancy treats (chocolate mousse cheesecake for me) and ate in the Venetian food court. Rachel (Kim's friend from high school in Ohio) and her husband Gonzalo joined us there.

By the next morning, Jared & Charlotte had arrived from San Diego. After I hit the gym (I love hotel gyms), we had breakfast altogether and then headed to the Bellagio. We saw the water show,

America the Beautiful & Char's fave Andre Botticelli song

the lobby blown glass,

All the women

and the conservatory.

 The Bellagio Conservatory was all decked out for China's Year of the Rooster

I really wanted to go to the art museum too, so we split up at this point. Half of the group got gelato, while the rest of us went to the museum. It was an exhibit focusing on artists contemporary to each other, but whose perspectives varied because some were urban and others were rural. I love this kind of stuff, so it was great.

I love this lithograph. The caption was in French, but the old, hardworking lady is saying, "Do you want me to sweep you too?" It is a social statement about her dress's complete impracticability. 

After my own gelato, we split the group again. Some of us (me) wanted to walk the rest of the Strip, and others wanted to return to the hotel to rest. Those of us who continued on got to see the MGM Grand and New York, New York. We also took a tram between the Aria and the Bellagio. We saw lots of street performers and lots of strangers' skin. ;-( We also got to see a second Bellagio water show (it started with fog that covered all of us, and we couldn't see the show, oops) of Celine's "My Heart Will Go On." The perfect prep for the night!

The "walkers" were running really late at this point, so we raced back to the hotel and changed for the Big Night.

Kim and I in her princess attire
I also bought our whole group "Happy 40th Birthday" Mardis Gras-like necklaces. You can kinda see mine in this pic.

We all met up together again, and we walked to the Forum Shoppes at Caesar's Palace. Char had made reservations at Trevi, which was a delicious Italian restaurant with both indoor and "outdoor" seating (it was inside the fake-sky area). There was a giant, Romanesque waterfall sculpture behind us. Nice place. Good food.

You can actually kinda tell we are all related in this picture: me, my sister and my mom.

All nine of us at dinner
From the left: my dad, my mom, me, Gonz, Rach (at the head), Rich, Kim, Charlotte & Jared

After some shopping (who knew how cheap H&M was?), we headed to see Celine Dion. Wow, she can put on a show! We saw her 1,022nd show (since she started performing in the Coliseum in March 2003). The theatrics and lighting, the costumes and orchestra, the backup singers and the pianist... It was awesome. So much fun! She actually is really spunky and fiesty, and she was really very entertaining... And it goes without saying that her vocals were stunning.

Me, my dad and my mom
We were up in the 2nd balcony, and my dad was a real trooper. He is TERRIFIED of heights, so it was a real challenge for him, but he did great.

After some more shopping, we headed back to the Venetian for crepes in their Food Court. Unfortunately, at about this point, I got a text from Ryan. He had just gotten back home from a dinner at the Bishop's house for members of our ward council, and he had learned that the very next day would be our last Sunday in our current ward. Apparently, the day before each family in our neighborhood had received a letter letting us know (how's that for 2 days notice?!) from the stake presidency, but we don't check our mail too often, so we hadn't seen it yet. Anyway, I was pretty upset (3 wards in 3 different stakes in less than 18 months... And we haven't even moved houses!). I headed back to my room about midnight and cried more than I slept that night. I don't do change well...

But morning came early, and the party had to come to an end. We met for breakfast at 8am, and then my mom and dad dropped me back at the airport. By myself again, I found security and my gate. I sat in the middle seat, found the shuttle back to long-term parking, found the car right where I left it (ha ha), and drove the hour home again. Go me! (Psst - I got married young, and we've always done everything together and/or have always been too broke to do anything just for fun.)

All in all, it was an absolutely awesome weekend! Happy 40th birthday, Kim! Hope it was the weekend you have always dreamed of. Thanks for letting me come party with you!      

Collin's Baptism

Collin was baptized on Saturday. We opted to host our own event instead of combining on the stake date, and I am so glad we did. It did come with its extra work though, but in the end, it went flawlessly.

The day started early with Ryan and Collin heading to the stake center at 6:45 am. They needed to get the water started in the font. Ryan told me later that Collin said on the way there, "Dad, can you believe it? The day I have been waiting for my whole life is finally here!" Isn't that adorable?

They arrived with an extremely long to-do list, including setting up chairs, a refreshments table, tv and cable, trying on jumpsuits, moving the piano and setting up an entry table. Oh, and that's not to mention turning off and on the water every 15 minutes to try to make it as warm as possible.

When I arrived with the rest of the kids at 9:30, the grandparents were all already there, and almost everything was ready to go. Way to go Ryan!

When it started at 10 am, I gave the opening prayer - through some happy tears - and Grandma Morello gave the talk on baptism. It was a great reminder of the covenants to love, serve, obey, pray and read the scriptures. Then Collin was baptized by Ryan, with Papa Williams and Grandpa Morello as witnesses.

Collin's primary teachers (a husband and wife team) did all the music, and his teacher played interlude music while Collin & Ryan took their sweet time getting changed. ;-) Collin told me afterwards that the water was warm, and that "dad did a great job." Ha ha.

After the baptism, Nana Williams gave a talk on the Holy Ghost. She gave him a HUGE micro-fleece blanket to represent the comforting power, and she also made a video. She spliced together a recording of her playing the piano with two other recordings of her singing the alto and then soprano parts of a primary song. She's amazing. At the end, she included pictures of Collin growing up. It was darling.

Then Collin received the Gift of the Holy Ghost. He said afterwards that this was his favorite part, and that he couldn't stop smiling. A good friend from Ohio that now lives south of Denver surprised us by showing up (Katie Luce Wheeler), and she wrote down the words of the confirmation. What a nice memory for Collin. For my own records... The circle included Papa, Grandpa, Uncle Rich, Bro Croft (teacher), Bro Ottley (bishopric), and Bro Southam (HTer).

After the confirmation, Collin and Nana played a piano duet of "Army of Helamen." They'd only played it through together a handful of times, and there were some errors, but they did great. After some words from the Primary President and the Bishopric member, Aunt Kim offered the closing prayer. I loved having so much family do all the parts.

Throughout the whole meeting, Collin was the happiest, eager-est boy. I couldn't get over how excited he was. His smile was contagious. He loves to "perform," and he knew this was his big day. He was darling. Who doesn't love seeing their kids happy?

After the meeting, we served cookies and pastries. While we cleaned up, Grandpa and Uncle Rich left to pick up catered lunch for the family at Panera. (I had to simplify in some ways. Remember, this all happened the morning after Brennan's birthday and party. Whew.)

Then the family had a nice afternoon eating, chatting, napping and relaxing at the house (with its finished flooring!). It truly was a fabulous day.

Kim got him a "remembering my baptism day" journal, and Collin recorded lots of information in it, including his testimony. Then there were pages included for his parents' testimonies. When I thought about what I wanted to write - there wasn't much space - I decided to bear my testimony about the blessings of obedience. My testimony of the Church is aided by seeing all the fruits of the Gospel. I know I am happier - and my family is happier - as we strive to hold Family Home Evening, read the Book of Mormon, love and serve each other, and attend the temple. Whenever I hear some obscure piece of Church history dug up to shake others' faith, I remind myself of all the peace and joy I have felt in Gospel-settings. Then I am able to remember that people are imperfect but Christ is perfect. His Church organization may have its flaws, but His Gospel is not flawed. I told Collin - via his journal page - to choose the right, and he would find all the joy and happiness he could ever dream of. And that is how I feel - Through striving to be obedient (STRIVING: We just need to be trying our best. I'm sooo far from perfect), I have found true joy.

Happy Baptism Day, Collin!  

Happy 6th birthday, Brennan!

Brennan's birthday was Friday the 13th this year, like when he turned one. It was a jam-packed day.

HIS DAY

At the boys' school, instead of bringing a treat to share with their class, they instead choose a 10-minute class activity. Most kids pick extra recess, but Brennan made it crystal-clear that he felt that was silly in the winter. (Of all my kids, he's the one who hates winter and snow the most.) He instead picked for me to come read to his class for his activity. He picked the same book I read when Collin was in kindergarten called "The Boy Who Loved Broccoli." It is a cute story where the broccoli gives the boy super-hero strength and size that he uses to serve others. Unfortunately, it is really poorly written. Anyway, I went to his class to read it on Friday morning. It was fun, since one of my favorite things to do is read aloud.

We had a bunch of family trickling in throughout Friday, so when 1/2-day kindergarten got out at 11:30, the family already in town (Grandma & Grandpa and Nana & Papa) met us at a Chinese restaurant in Windsor. Brennan likes their sweet & sour chicken, but he doesn't like the vegetables or the sauce or the rice. Yeah, you read that right: he eats the chicken like nuggets, and - since it was his bday - I brought a little cup of BBQ sauce from home. Collin had had a doctors appointment just beforehand, so I already had checked him out of school, and Ryan left work to join us, so it was a fun, little - if you can call 10 people little - gathering.

After lunch, Nana & Papa took Brennan to Target to pick out a Lego set and to the party store to buy balloons for his party that evening. He spent the rest of the afternoon working on building his new set. He was in heaven.

At 5:30, Dad got home from work and Kim and her family arrived from Utah. Ryan brought Costco pizza, as requested by the birthday boy, and we had dinner. Then we played 5 simple Poke-mon themed games: Pikachu ears (craft), Catch Charizard (ball toss), Pin the Tail on Pikachu (blindfold), Poke-mon Catch (hunt) and a Poke-mon pinata.

It was tons of fun to plan, but it wasn't tons of fun to lead. The cousins were all worked up, and Brennan was in his "nothing will please me, no matter what" mood. I was really sad he wasn't happier, especially after all the work we'd put into it.

After the games, we sang and he blew out candles. I made poke-ball cupcakes, and Ryan made a Pikachu cake. We also had birthday cake ice cream (I love that stuff!).

Then he got to open gifts. From us, he got a new bike helmet, some Poke-mon Lego figures, a "How to Draw Poke-mon" book and a pack of colored paper. Aunt Kim got him a set of sports piggy banks to decorate. He was unimpressed by it all, but - as I mentioned - he was in an "impossible to please" mood.

ABOUT MY BRENNAN

We love Brennan, and we are so glad he is part of our family. He has taught me more than all my other kids combined. He sometimes is the sweetest, kindest, gentlest little boy, and I truly love spending time with him. He plays with Kate on the floor, reads to Ethan, makes cards for our family, empties the silverware from the dishwasher, and tells jokes. Other days, he is mean and violent and unpredictable. Those days I pray to end quickly. He is learning, and so are we.

He is smart. He reads quite well already. His math and writing skills are out of this world. He is an incredible artist, and he has the focus and attention of a child much older. He's already a prolific author and illustrator of books on many topics - dragons, tortoises, Poke-mon, ABCs, ninjas, pigeons, etc. He has lots of friends at school, and all the kids flock to him. He is a perfectionist like no other, and he doesn't want to try things that he thinks he might not be perfect at.

In December (on Collin's bday actually), he was voted Most Responsible by his classmates, and he was honored at a school-wide assembly. The other kids said he always gets all his work done, and he always picks up after himself. It really is just a popularity contest, but that's a rant for another day.

Brennan has had quite the year of physical growth too. He is two years behind Collin, but as soon as Collin grows out of any clothes, they now immediately move on to Brennan, instead of having a year boxed up. Even though he is only in kindergarten, he needs to wear all the clothes Collin wore in 1st grade, and Collin wasn't a small first grader! The doctor projected at his well-check appointment that he would reach 6'3". Sounds like he'll take after my uncles and cousins...  

He still doesn't handle change or failure at all. If something changes unexpectedly, it is practically the end of the world, and there are always tears and usually kicking and/or hitting. On a day with a lot of pressure (like a birthday or Christmas), he is usually a total wreck.

He hates almost all food I cook, but mostly because he knows it makes me sad. His favorite food is homemade macaroni and cheese with bacon, and I make it almost weekly. Last week Ethan asked me what was for dinner, and when I replied "pancakes," he disgustedly replied, "YUCK!" I asked him why he had said that. "Because we ask you what for dinner, and you say it, and we always say yuck." Laughing, I tried to explain that "yuck" means you don't like it, and that if he does like it he should say "yum" instead. "Oh, me like pancakes. I say yummy now!" Where do you think he learned to say "yuck" EVERY time Mom says what's for dinner?!

Brennan is doing karate two days a week with Collin. He likes it when he is there and afterwards, but the last few weeks it has been a real battle to get him there. He says he wants to drop out, which I am willing to support, but I told him he had to pick another extracurricular activity to pick up to replace it. He doesn't want to do piano or soccer, so I plan to try to find some kind of artsy thing for him. I'm not really sure where to start though...

Brennan has great potential. We love him so much! Here's to another year of growth and learning together. Love you, B!

Living Room Remodel

Yeah, so we decided to totally remodel our main floor. So far - one year later - we have one of the room done... okay, almost done. But I think it is close enough to finally talk about it on here.

So, this was our front room when we bought our house.

These are actually the realtor pics from Zillow with the previous owner's furniture. 

There was no way to put furniture in this room. The stairs totally blocked the doorway, and there wasn't enough additional room to have a walkway to the rest of the house. We basically used it for our computer cabinet and piano. I hated it. Oh, and the turned spindles and railing made me want to throw up in my throat.

So, we moved the stairs. Yeah, so December 14, 2015 we - and by "we" I mean Ryan - tore out the coat closet behind the front door, rebuilt the subfloor, moved four stairs to straighten the run and built a new landing. This process took about a month.

Removing the coat closet

The hated spindles and newel posts

All gone coat closet, spindles and posts! 

Goodbye stairs blocking the doorway

This hole was created on a Thursday evening of labor. Ryan handed the kids to me up on that first start, over top of the hole for bedtime that night, and Ryan had to take off Friday from work. It was crazy.  

Those are the basement stairs. It was a big drop. 

But that Friday, he got the new landing built and straightened the old stairs over the hole. Phew.

So at this point we had totally trashed some sections of drywall, as you can see in the pictures. All our drywall is textured, so we were going to have to hire someone to come in to texture the new wall. So the Pinterest junky in our relationship - no names needed - decided it would look really nice if instead of re-doing the drywall, we just covered it with board and batten.

Sooooo much easier said than done. This process filled our nights and weekends until Spring/Summer, when we had to pause everything.

First, Ryan attached this smooth board to cover the textured walls. We wanted to just glue it, but that didn't work, so it had to be cut and tacked up. Then we had to place all the boards.

We laughed that the neighbors probably all thought we were turning our front room into a cardboard box. 

Since I hated our original newel posts and spindles, Ryan built a case around our original posts and made them more sleek, and we eventually got all new spindles. 

This picture shows the boards Ryan but up to create the pattern.

All summer long we worked on the regular lawn/yard upkeep. (We also spent all our time and money on our patio roof, which I know I mentioned TWO YEARS ago in a birthday post, but... That story is for another LONG remodel story. We also built a playhouse, complete with two slides and a climbing wall, and added a sandbox underneath, so we stayed busy, and this project sat on hold.)

In October, with the yard work wrapped up for the winter, we got back into the mess we were calling our house. We finally got a reasonably-priced quote on spraying all our wainscoting white. They fit us into their schedule one week at the beginning of November, and that's when we really started getting excited. We never hire out anything, so it was exciting to see how quickly they got it all turned into beautiful. smooth white.

Then the week before Thanksgiving we ripped out all the carpeting in the front room, and Thanksgiving weekend we - and by we I actually mean Ryan, Collin and I - laid that room's hardwood flooring.

The following weekend Ryan put in the new railing and spindles (yes, we'd gone almost a year without a safe staircase with four kids under the age of 7 and a clumsy mother).

With the front room nearly finished after Thanksgiving, we changed gears to the rest of the main floor. We had bought enough hardwood flooring to do the kitchen and family room too, so every Saturday in December was dedicated to flooring removal in the additional 2/3 of our main floor. One evening we took out the carpet and staples in the family room. That was pretty easy.

The main reason we redid this back room's flooring was because of this awkward transition between the mud room and the kitchen. I hated this little landing thing. 

Two LONG, HARD Saturdays were spent removing the linoleum from the eating area of the kitchen and then the prep area of the kitchen.

Since we were ripping it out anyway, Ryan grabbed some Sharpies at the store, and we let the kids go to town on the linoleum. I thought we should win the coolest parents award.  

They thought that it was pretty cool. 

It was brutal work. Lots of splinters and bloody knuckles. Super sore backs. So much dust and an infinite number of staples, seriously. We removed linoleum on Saturdays, and we pulled and/or cut staples for the week nights in between. It was literally back-breaking labor. I've never been so tired or slept so soundly.

And that brings us to our Christmas week. After a month of staples, splinters and bare chipboard for flooring, we started laying the new hardwood in the kitchen and family room the day after Christmas. It took us three, long hard days. I learned to measure, cut, nail and hammer boards. Ryan was better at it than me, but I knew how to do it all by the end. Talk about a sore back. I've never slept better.

It is beautiful, and we are super happy, but there's a reason that the labor to install hardwood doubles the cost of the product. It is truly labor.

Ironically, the very next day after we finished our installation we had planned to just work half-days (baseboard and toekick replacement and other finishing touches) and then enjoy some time with the kids (trampoline park, indoor pool, arcade, etc.) But, instead we got SLAMMED with sickness. Collin got an ear infection, Ryan got respiratory influenza, Ethan got pink eye (that he passed to me, Kate and Ryan in turn), and the rest of us got snotty, coughing colds. It has been a miserable last two weeks. We think we are on the home stretch now, but... I'm kinda waiting for the next victim.

Somewhere in our dazed illnesses, we got a babysitter and went shopping. We had a lot to do: we ordered new carpet for the stairs and upstairs hallway (they've been bare plywood for months and months), we bought a couch and accent chairs for the living room, and we bought rugs for the living room and family room. It was an expensive... and a totally essential, shopping day.

So, are you ready for the grand finale? Here's our new and improved front room.

This post is mostly dedicated to this front room, but since we did the flooring everywhere else too that story sneaked in. We still want/need to re-do the kitchen (planking on the island, back splash and counter tops) and the family room (accent wall and fireplace redo), so I didn't take "after" pictures of anywhere else, but at least the floor is done in those rooms already.

And that's our one-year story. I think we've earned a break. Do you agree? ;-)