Davin's quilt...still working on it

With all of the shower stuff going on, and all of the DUST that built up inside my house, I couldn't work on Davin's quilt for a few weeks.  But once they were done tiling, while we waited a week for the glass, I got back to work on this unfinished project.

Trimming off corners.  You can see my block, I made up this pattern just for Davin :)

Second corners sewn, ready to be trimmed, then pressed.

Since the blocks are all different, I have to lay every block out to figure out how it will all be sewn together

The rows are sewn, ready to be fully assembled.

border sketches.  Ugh, more triangles.

The Bathroom Remodel...

Once upon a time, sometime last April, we noticed some funky tan-ish spots on our kitchen ceiling.  Then we found two not so small cracks in the floor of our fiberglass shower.  After a month and a half of getting quotes, checking out tile samples, patching the floor up to make our shower functional, we were finally ready to start this project (which took the place of my 15th anniversary trip I'd been planning for 2 years)

However, life gets in the way of our plans.  Eric's dad passed away, then we had a summer full of vacation/trips, plus surgery and it's long recovery.  Then it was Oct and Eme's baptism, and we had family out.  And then it was the whole holiday season.  So we kept the patches on the floor of the shower, and waited until January, only 9 months later...

"before"

day 1-demo

day 2-framing and re-plumbing

day 3-tub cemented in, and more framing

day 4-cement board, and shower floor!

day 5-tile

day 6-more tile

day 7-more tile, including the floor!

also day 7-tub tile

day 8-tile completed!!!

day 9-the plumber re-installed the fixtures (I can't believe how much that part cost)

Another week later-the glass went in.  The finished product!!!

We gained about 6 inches on the depth of the shower, and around 3 on the width (just from removing the fiberglass)-plus the extra width on top because of the glass.  The tub is HUGE, truly twice the water capacity of the old tub.  We are now prone to longer showers, and have taken a few baths in the new tub.  Not what I had planned for my 15th anniversary, but I love how it all turned out.

Gilbert Temple Open House

In the midst of shower reconstruction, we went to the temple open house...

This was the best pic we could get of us, the sun was right in our faces.

Aidan took this one-thanks kid :)

Walking back to the car.

Before the open house, for several days, we encouraged the kids to pray for spiritual experiences when they went through the temple.  We took the time to talk with them about the temple, and answer any questions they had.  This wasn't their first open house, we went through the Oquihhr Mountain Temple two years ago.  Who could forget Eme's "when I'm dead I want to be baptized here!" or her lovely song on the way back "Jesus loves me, sometimes."

Jan 12 in 12 (plus 2 more)

I know that I'm fairly terrible at uploading and posting these pictures.  But, really, I love capturing one of our typical days each month.  No, it's not always easy (like when I sub or it's on a Sunday), but my children love it and so do I.

Davin working on his story to finish up his religious knot.

Mmm, homemade pancakes and syrup-with everyone in school and me working a few days a week, these have become a luxury item.

Eme begged me to curl her hair.

Almost all ready for church, someone is missing his tie.

Most of my family spent Sunday afternoon playing this game (either on the kindle or xbox)

Eric and Aidan had a youth standards fireside to get to, so they ate later.

Trying out the dancing portion of the Star Wars game for the kinect.

The "before" picture of our bathroom-the come on Wed to start tearing it out!

Before school antics-love Eme.

And miss Maddie lost her first tooth!

New Year's Projects...

I'm not one for resolutions.  I seem to run out of steam on long term goals.  I didn't do too badly on last year's goal list (here).  I did take up shopping at Sprouts (and haven't looked back-love that place); I didn't read 52 conference talks, but I came really close; I surpassed my new recipe goal (and rewarded myself with a new cookbook); I gave up on all of my walking/running goals-ankle surgery kind of killed that one; Eric and I have taken up going out to lunch/dinner fairly regularly; in the end I averaged going to the temple once a month (this year I'd like to go more often); I did read a couple of non-book club books; and Davin's quilt went on hold after June, ankle was to blame again.

So this year I've gotten together a list of projects I'd like to take on this year.

• Master bathroom remodel (it was in the works last year until too many things came up).  In fact it's scheduled for the 21st!!
• Finish up Davin's quilt (Eric has even promised me a trip out to my parents to quilt it after I'm done-bonus!)
• Make 2 new recipes a month (there is a cookbook for a reward when I've finished)
• Stain the my bathroom cabinets and the cabinet at the top of the stairs (I did the other two bathrooms last summer).
• In general finish up some of my UFO's out there.

There are some other things I'd like to make sure I do: 

• I want to keep up with reading conference talks
• Keep going to the temple regularly (and with a new temple opening this should be fun)
• Have more family activities (bike rides, camping, hiking, etc)
• Mop the floor weekly :) (this one has suffered since my surgery)
• Finally take a weekend with just Eric.
• Enjoy reading more :)

Christmas Fun with Nana and Cousins

With so many things different this year, it was nice to do some things the same.  We missed Papa, but it was so wonderful to have Christmas Eve all together, and really nice to meet up again on Christmas Day.

For some reason Ryan and Britney's family and our family arrive at Nana's within 10 minutes of each other.  This year it was 1-2 minutes.  It's crazy, but we sure love this accidental tradition.

More legos for the boys, 

And the girls got doll accessories-a tea set (porcelain) for Eme, 

and a baking set for Maddie.

Eric even managed to bring over some of the drawers he's been trying to finish forever.  We headed home for our traditional Christmas Day dinner-roast w/mashed potatoes, rolls, jello salad, and pie!!  All in all a wonderful day, we were able to feel the peace of the season so perfectly.

Christmas Morning is Magical

In the past we've had to wake our little ones up, but not anymore.  The boys woke up crazy early and then played video games in their room until it was time to get up (like 4 or 5 in the morning early).

Another traditional picture.

Santa brought legos for the girls to share, 

and the boys got a Star Wars game for the xbox kinect.

Reaping the spoils of Santa.

Reading our letters from Gramma and Grandpa Seguine, 

Davin's face says it all-this was one of the highlights of the day.

The girls made the boys little stuffed animals from the leftover pj fabric-Eme had been wanting to do something like this for Davin for a month.

Sibling gifts-legos and lego holders.

Eric and the kids surprised me (Eric had already bought me some nativity pieces) with the long awaited roses.  The kids each picked one out for me, Eric did too (and I added one more to the order).  I can't wait for the bare root roses to come in Feb!!

Final gifts: (Eric is notorious for blurry pics w/my camera) Aidan got a Kindle Fire (the cover was his other gift from us).

Davin got the huge X-Wing set.

Eme got a mini-American Girl doll plus her six books.

And Maddie got her first Madame Alexander doll.

I lent Davin my Kindle so the boys could all Minecraft together.

And after the kids went to bed, Eric got to really enjoy his Christmas gift.