Before & After

Shhhh.... This is one of Nathan's Christmas gifts.

All the bikes at the store were kind of bleh, and we decided we didn't want to spend so much on one, and then only have him ride it for a year. So I found this on Craigslist for $10:

We took off the lame decals, touched up the paint(already had the paint!~ so FREE), recovered the seat and cushion thing that is there to protect your face if you wreck ($2 or $3), replaced the handlebars ($6), and installed a kickstand ($6).

It looked great, but plain. So I called up my bro, who designed some decals, and had them printed at work (FREE for me) Thanks!

I think we put in $10- $15 into it, but it looks cool, and will last him awhile. Tyler is a little jealous that his first bike wasn't this awesome.

So for less then $25 TOTAL, here it is:

Hopefully you think it looks better after~ I sure do! I may decide to add more decals... I need to look at it some more.

p.s. I HATE MOVING! We have taken one trailer full to Utah already(well my Dad took it and unloaded the entire thing with my bro), and think we will have two more to take. I am ready to get this over with already. The kids have been extra clingy/whiny, and I am sure it is because most of our stuff is gone...one more week!

This is how I found the kids the other morning. Ava always kicks Nathan out of his chair. Look at her lounging!

A week ago we had our ward Christmas party. Santa came and Ava was so excited. She was sitting with all the kids on the floor, and kept scooting closer and closer to him. Then it was their turn...as soon as I sat her down on his knee she started crying! I couldn't believe it. I thought she would have loved him!

We decided that with Christmas just 2 weeks away, it was time to put up our tree. Usually we have it up by the end of November. With moving and such in the works, I just haven't been in the most Christmas-y spirit. Plus I was worried that as soon as we decorated we would have to pack up the truck and move. (If we end up moving earlier then expected we are putting the tree in the truck fully decorated!)

(connecting the star)

I told Tyler that it reminded me of Charlie Brown's tree. I was too nervous to use the metal hooks, so we bought a pack of these ribbon things. They work well, but are not the cutest, so next year I will make some cuter ones. Anyway, we didn't have enough, and I didn't want to go drive to Lowe's and spend money on something that I may not ever use again. So the tree is bare, but the kids love it, and that is all that matters, right?

We are pretty sure we have a renter for the house. We have been busy doing the things we should have done two years ago before we moved in! This is the second time this has happened, so I told Tyler next time I am not moving in until EVERYTHING is done (second time I've said that too...) I touched up a bunch of paint, Tyler has been replacing broken blinds, and then of course there has been packing.

We finally ordered and installed the awning for our back door. Every time it would rain, the rain would come through the door. We replaced the threshold (twice I think) and weatherstripping, but it would still leak. We would hate for our floors to get ruined , so we thought it would be best to get an awning. It is nothing fancy, but it will work, and I think it looks nice. Too bad we didn't do it earlier though. Tyler was installing it on the coldest day this past week~it was getting ready to raining so we wanted to test it out.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

Tyler keeps saying that we need a new post.

We haven't been doing much....just going crazy.

We have shown our house a bunch of times, but still haven't rented it. I didn't think it would be this hard! We have a family who seems really interested, so we are crossing our fingers! We have boxes all over, and we are not sure (if this family rents our house) if we would move before or after Christmas...so we still haven't decorated! We should probably get on it though...

Thanksgiving was nice. We went to my Grandparent's here in town, and were so glad we went. We were the only ones over there, and I love that the kids know and love their Great Grandparents. We had a nice quiet dinner, and relaxed- it was pretty low key.

Then we came home, packed up the car, and headed to Utah the next day. My family usually does their Thanksgiving on Saturday, so we got to feast two times. Mmmmm! I love Thanksgiving!

On Sunday our cutest nephew, Luke, was blessed. We had to be in Cedar bright and early. It had snowed the day before, and the pavement/steps were so icy when we got there. You should have seen Maria and I in our heels, trying not to die walking. You could so tell we are from the desert. After church we headed to the Yoders, and had ANOTHER FEAST! Melissa is such a wonderful hostess she had been up all night cooking and preparing for all of us. Everything was so yummy, and we were so glad we were able to be there!

While we were there we had to attempt the annual Murset Family photo. I decided that we need to lower our expectations, since all the kids are always so wiggly, and not huge fans of the whole picture idea, it will be a while until we can have a picture of everyone looking at the camera.

This is my favorite of the four of us. Ava's face cracks me up! I think we have a better one then this of us, but for now this is my fav.

These are the ones of all of us:

This was after a major meltdown. Tyler was the only one ready(HA!) Kevin, and Mark were mimicking the child.

I think this ended up being the best one... Good Times.

Sorry it took so long to update. We will try and be better bloggers!