New Year!

So much to say! We spent Christmas in Salt Lake with family- it was a very nice time :) Busy with family and some dear friends. Sadly some of us got sick on Christmas day and then a few days after. We saw Christmas lights at the zoo and on Temple square, make gingerbread cookies with all the trimmings, enjoyed Christmas Eve dinner with family, a delish family breakfast and then a final get together with family to say goodbye.

On our way home Dave and I discussed things that we would like to accomplish this year...the majority of the items on our list pertained to our home-there are some areas that just need to be fixed, finished, re-done, etc. So then we had this brilliant plan- to actually start!

Our goal was to begin destruction on our upstairs bathroom. Due to some unfortunate mold, broken tiles and bad construction work (previous owners can sometimes cut corners...) we had a bathroom without a working shower or bathtub. We need an upstairs bathroom!! So the plan was to begin tearing things apart-with full understanding that it would take us a few days, even a week or so to get it all torn out. Then between now and spring break we would work on putting it back together again.

Here are a few pictures of our beginning of the new year home makeover project- Project one: Upstairs Bathroom

Days 1 and 2:

We were not sad to get rid of the flecks of gold and the pretty blue butterflies that covered part of the bathroom walls-

 

Not bad for two days!

Catching up

I haven't had a chance to post since September so here are a few pictures of what has been keeping us busy...and out of jail.

 

Back to school

 

 

 

Tim and Becca in their soccer uni's

 

 



Tim and Aleyna turn 8!

 

 

 



Grandma and Grandpa Banks came to visit in October

 

 

 

 

A visit to Lofton Reservoir in October

 

 

 

Becca's first pie eating contest...she placed 5th. 

 

 

Followed by a pie eating contest at home a few days later.

 

 

Halloween: a princess, skeleton, red riding hood, and a nerd-girl (we are so proud!).

 

 

 

Makin' bacon...butchering our pig.  We were up until 2 AM.

 

 

 

Diana with her aunts Linda and Charlene and her mom Billie in November.

 

 

 

Shooting the .22 pistol out in the forest.

 

 

 

More shooting in the forest, but near LaPine after Thanksgiving.

 

 

 

Aleyna getting her ears pierced after Thanksgiving.

 

 

 

Our Christmas tree cutting expedition and the final selection. 



2013 Lake County Fair

This week has been busy getting ready for fair, THE event people look forward to in Lake County, Oregon.  Bigger than Christmas or St. Patrick's Day (lots of Irish heritage in Lake County).  Dave finished a pig box (used to store food and supplies to care for the pig), Becca washed her pig, Oreo, and we took him to the fair for weigh-in today.  He weighed 270 lbs.  Tonight was market judging where the pigs were judged for how they looked while tomorrow is showmanship (how well Becca can get Oreo to move and do what she wants).  The pictures below are from the market judging tonight.  The pigs are sorted into weight classes.  There were six classes with each one awarding a class grand champion and reserve grand champion followed by blue and red ribbons, in that order.  Becca took third in class and was awarded first choice for blue ribbon. 

More news to come from the Lake County Fair!

Happy Birthday to Kaitlyn

My sweet Kaitlyn turned 5 today. What a very exciting 5 years it has been. She has such a personality and makes it known!

*She is reading 'Bob' books
*Loves...LOVES to dance
*Is a very prissy girl...even when walking she has her hand out, so very dainty!
*Loves to listen to music
*Loves to play dress up
*Loves to make up songs, though we are not allowed to look at her when she is singing
*Enjoys telling very extravagant stories
*She is funny, silly, kinda goofy
*Her favorite place is Polar Bear...soft serve ice cream
*Sings primary songs quite often when she thinks nobody is listening
*Is a cuddle bug!!!
*Is the only one of my kids to have a special blanket...she loves her Pooh Bear and Duckie (made by her sweet cousin Erin) blankets and has to have it each night...we call it her Duckie Pooh.
*Has crazy hair!
*Is the most interesting person to talk to...in the bathroom, public ones as well...she makes the people in other stalls laugh out loud with her random comments
*Can be extra special LOUD when she wants to be heard
*Sweet and kind
*..."I need to tell you something" is one of her favorite ways to start conversations
*Loves to play house and take care of babies
*Plays library and takes tons of books off the shelf and arranges them on the stairs so she can check them out to people.
*When she grows up she grows up she wants to be a mom
*Her favorite color is pink
*Her favorite animal is a deer...she loves to look for them when we go out to feed Becca's pig
*She likes chocolate milk and milkshakes...but not the raisin kind...(her answer)
*She likes 'talk ramen'
*Her favorite breakfast is toast with jelly on it and cut into 4 pieces
*Her closest friend is Noelle and Madison D.
*For her birthday this year she got to choose the show they watched this morning and she chose Scooby Doo....

We had Oreo's for breakfast as per our birthday tradition. We had a party in the park and then went to the Library to watch a magic show for the summer reading program (I arranged for a magical day...)
then we came home to rest before preparing dinner and a family movie that the birthday girl gets to pick...I hope it isn't Scooby Doo again...

Happy Birthday Kaitlyn!

 

She wanted a Minnie Mouse cake for her Birthday this year :)