I am finally getting to post about our weekend! Saturday morning, Jeff worked outside cleaning out the whole garage and doing some yard work. He is really enjoying working outside. Thank goodness because 2.5 acres will include a lot of outside work! He also took care of the girls, (or should I say that they entertained themselves outside while he worked) while I went on a girls day with my friend Emily to a fabric store. I purchased 4 projects worth of stuff that I won't go into detail about just yet. I am notorious for buying projects, but never finishing them. I really hope that Emily pushes me and makes me do them. After our girls morning out, Kamryn had her last soccer game of the season. She did a great job, as usual.

Picnic inside

I recently contacted one of my old companions from my mission. I shouldn't say "one of my old companions" because she was actually my mom, my trainer. She molded me into my tour giving, testifying and referral getting self. She was and is still AWESOME! Well, come to find out, she lives right by us in a neighboring city. We set up a luncheon at our house and let the kids play. It was so much fun to reconnect with her and get to know her little family. I hope that we can get together more before they move to Boston in August!


And, because they are so adorable...a couple pictures of my girls...

Lost her tooth...literally

Kamryn came home after school one day last week with a new wiggly tooth. She has already lost 4 teeth on the bottom row and now has a wiggly 5th. It did take some time from wiggliness to actually letting Dad pull them out, so I didn't expect it to happen the very next day.

The next day, Kamryn came home from school with a new hole where her wiggle tooth was. I was excited "Where is it, let me see." "I lost it" K said. By now, you've all figured out the whole story...but, for record keeping I'll go on. "I know you lost it, where is it" I said. Then she proceeded to tell me that she bonked heads with a kid at recess and didn't realize that she had lost her tooth until the end of the day. Her tooth was lost in all the rock and rubble of the play ground.

Fortunately, her teacher sent a note home with her:

Dear Tooth Fairy:

It has come to my attention that Miss Kamryn was out at recess when her head bumped into another student's head. Both children were not hurt, however, Kamryn's cute little tooth popped out. Her sweet little tooth is now nestled in the sea of tiny rocks and pebbles that surround our playground equipment. Please let it be known that Miss .... and I, Carrie ......, vouch for Kamryn on the whereabouts of her tooth, and we would appreciate it greatly, if this note can take the place of Kamryn's tooth underneath her pillow.

Thank you so much!


The tooth fairy found the note and left $3 of quarters behind. Kamryn was so happy that the note worked, that she worked on a Thank you note for her awesome teacher who took time out of her busy schedule to write that letter to the tooth fairy.

London is finally paid for!

Finally! One of our little miracle girls (London) who was born much too early and spent her first month of life in the NICU is paid for!!! Now their is no danger of the bank repossessing her! All I can say is that it feels good, really good to be free of this debt.

Working on our V's

In London's speech therapy they are working on the letter V, which London pronounces with a B. So, London and Liz (her speech therapist) play go fish with V word cards (vest, vulture, vanilla etc.) This also helps with the letter V because London has to ask "do you HAVE..." Have is really hard for her to say. This particular day London was pronouncing all of her v's correctly. She was doing so well that I actually thought that we might introduce a new letter/sound, that is until Liz shared with me the following story...

As they were cleaning up the cards, London just kept staring at Liz. (As Liz is sharing this, I know exactly what is coming next because London does this all the time at home.)Liz keeps cleaning, but London will not quit staring at her. Finally, Liz says "what?" London smiles her biggest smile and says "I lub you." So much for spending all that time on the letter V!

Floor Plans

Last Thursday we toured several homes of a popular contractor where we live. We really like the details that he puts in each home. Most of his homes have several plant shelves, high ceilings and cool fireplaces. Though we like him a lot, Jeff and I seriously need to put a lot of thought into what we are doing so that we get the best deal possible. We haven't picked this contractor as of yet, just testing the waters. We did like this layout.

And, we also picked this one out of a home plan book that we took with us when we visited the contractor. We're not sure yet if we are dreaming too large, I guess we will see because the contractor will draw it up and give us a price this week sometime. We really like the extra family room! One thing that we did decide on was having a basement framed. Though this basement won't be completed for years, to have the builders put one in will only cost us between $12-15,000 extra. It would almost double our square footage and might be a great investment when we resell our property.


And finally, last but not least...Jeff's youngest sister, Ashley, came to visit us this weekend. The girls just idolize her! So, instead of asking me to read them a story, push us on the swings, dance to Hannah Montana, they got Ashley to do it! It was a nice break for me :)

Our future home

This wasn't a decision that was taken lightly. We've prayed and thought about this for a long time. We are now the proud owners of a 2 1/2 acre lot. Of which, we will build a home on in a little over a year. We are currently house sitting for Jeff's boss while they are serving a mission in Chile. It has been such a huge blessing to do this for it has allowed us to pay off debt and make this dream of ours come true. So, my question to all of you is...If you had some land, what would you do with it? I've already been thinking hard about this and have some ideas, but would like to know other suggestions. Jeff's ideas: basketball court, large backyard for soccer, flag football and wiffle ball tournaments. Jen's ideas: Orchard, huge garden spot, maybe raise some beef, a track around the perimeter, swing set, trampoline etc.,.


We are excited at the prospect of laying permanent roots here. It has been a good city for us, we have many great friends here and we are close enough to family that it would be easy for us to go and visit as needed. The process of choosing a floor plan that fits our needs, picking colors and decorating exactly how we want is also so exciting for us! We can't wait!

I love...

getting new book orders!!!