Keep a balance -A little spiritual uplift...a little booty lift!

Lately I have not updated my blog because of the mear fact that we haven't been up to too much lately. (Trying to conserve gas also) I have been a doing a lot of reading though. I have found (actually recommended to me by others) an amazing couple of books that have really given me insight that I've never really considered before. I am not a gushy person when it comes to spirituality but these two books have helped me a lot through the past few years and trying to over come some of my shortcomings. So for anyone who's interested in a little spiritual uplift I highly recommend these two books: The Peacegiver and The Holy Secret both by James L. Ferrell.

And most of you know that I love to exercise (even though since I've been having foot problems I haven't been able to do much). And I am happy to annouce that I have kicked my Dr. Pepper addiction...again and for good!! To balance out my reading I bought Fitness magazine today and it has a few of what seems like a really good workouts that don't take long. One is called "the drop a jeans size workout". I don't know about you but that sounds good to me! I am going to start that ASAP! And hopefully be able to continue after my foot procedure next week!!

Poor Cody has found joy in playing with household items such as rubber bands and cooking utensils while I have been reading!

Half boy, Half monkey?

We were kindly given a porch swing and Cody loves it! Not only does he ask a million times to go sit on it during the day (including to eat his lunch and dinner) but he has found another use for it...a jungle gym! We have told him that he can not climb like that unless Daddy or Mommy is outside to watch him/catch him!

This kid is 100% boy!!

The girls are back together!

This past week my two best girls, Jen and Allison came to visit from Oregon for 4 days! We had an awesome time. We all met our first year of college at BYU-Hawaii...over 10 years ago!!! Yikes! Jen was my roommate and I met Allison the first night at dinner. We were inseparable from that point.

It was so fun to have them here. We hung out at the pool a couple of times and took a trip out to Disneyland since Allison hasn't been there since she was two years old. We, of course hit up every one's favorite burger joint, In n Out, and just had lots of good old catching up time. Jen has two kids that she was able to leave behind this trip so she thoroughly enjoyed bringing a good book to complete. We 3 haven't seen each other since Allison's wedding almost a year ago. These two girls and I have been through some crazy times and it's always so good to get back together and laugh at ourselves.
Us at Disneyland-it was a warm summer day! girls taking a rest!
Enjoying California Adventure Park. Daniel and Cody were troopers staying all day long in the heat and crowded park

Jen with her nose in her book

Cody became extremely attached to Jen and Allison and was very sad when they left.

For those who are wondering, this is our kitchen as of now. We worked very hard to get finished before the girls came. It's almost done. We just have to finish with the base board and crown molding. I must say that I like it much better than the diner style. I still have some special touches to add but I am glad to finally be enjoying the dishwasher and loss of pink and grey!

Week with no kitchen

Talk about a crazy week! We started doing some demo to the kitchen last Wed. Everyone always tells you that it's going to cost more than you figured and take about twice as long...oh so true! We mostly have stayed in budget, but we ended up having to take out some counters that we weren't originally planning to. I had just had work done on my foot again and was pretty useless so I just had to sit back and watch which is hard for me to do. We had to make MANY trips to Home Depot and Lowe's and since I couldn't walk, I ended up riding in the motorized carts which was actually slower than walking with my crutches but Cody sure did enjoy it. Sorry I didn't get a picture of that.
This is Daniel taking out a cabinet by the frig. (this one was planned to be removed).

Daniel did an awesome job putting in the new cabinet and counter top. This side was a cake walk compared to what came next!
The opposite side cabinet was just supposed to be cut out in one area for the dishwasher to be installed...
It ended up looking like this after the rest of the cabinet started falling apart after the cutting began. This house was originally built in the 40's so you can imagine the difference in the building styles/quality. We decided to buy new cabinets for this whole side.
After a couple of days of hard work by Daniel, his Dad and my Dad they got the drywall up, cabinets in, counter top on, dishwasher installed and the hole cut for the sink.
And then finally the sink was put in and the faucet and water filter in! I can't tell you how glad I was to have my sink back! The house has been a mess, we had been using paper everything, drinking bottled water, and eating out. For those of you who have walked in those shoes...it's not fun! At least for us to like to eat home cooked meals! Oh how I miss Daniel's home cooked meals! Cody enjoyed getting donuts most mornings which is very out of character for us.

Now we are busy painting and putting up molding. The next step is the floor. We are very excited for our new look and can't wait to get rid of the stove to finish off the look. I do have to give a HUGE thank-you to Daniel's Dad for the many hours of help! This week Cody also finished his first year of preschool. He's made amazing accomplishments this past year with his behavior and were so glad that he ended up having a very patient teacher. We are very proud of him in his achievements.

We had family in town this past week also so we took a trip to the beach so the boys(Ryan and Derek) could surf and the little guys could play in the water and sand. Cody had lots of fun and can't wait to spend more time at the beach this summer.

The diner is closing

As fun as this kitchen is to some...it's always been a eye sore to me! I've been pulling out pages of different kitchens from my 'Better Homes and Gardens' magazine for a couple of years now just dreaming of what I could have. Three years of looking at this pink stove and sink knowing that it would be awhile before I could change it drove me crazy. I've already repainted the walls that use to be light green just to tone down the craziness. Sorry, I am not trying to offend anyone else's taste, but this is just not my style! I've even put in applications to a couple of TV shows to make over my kitchen! Talk about getting desperate, but I guess there's worse out there because I haven't gotten word back from any of them.
I was so excited to finally get the okay from Daniel to make some changes to our 50's diner kitchen!! We've recently spent a couple of days pricing and looking for what we wanted. I never knew how many options I had and for those who know me...I am not too good at making final decisions. I know what I like, but then you have to make sure that it all looks good together. One of the biggest thrills for Daniel and I is that we will finally have a dishwasher!!! Yahoo!! We are both so excited for that! We had to order it so that has slowed the process down a bit but we sure are ready to say good-bye to the sink, counter tops, and floor!! Unfortunately, we don't quite have enough to get the stove we want, but that will be next! If you know anyone who is willing to pay anything for this stove please let me know!! (try not to laugh at the pictures!)

Our crazy pink stove
The dishwasher will be on this side of the sink
NO MORE PINK SINK OR STRAINER ON THE COUNTER!
The big round counter top is going too to create more space.

Minor crash

Our latest news is that we (all of us were in the car)were in a minor accident on the 605 freeway. We were coming back from a dr. appointment and we were driving in the car pool lane. Our lane was cruising with no problems but the lanes to the right side of us started stopping and getting backed up. All of a sudden we saw a white compact car swerve over into our lane. Daniel was driving and tried to swerve over as much as he could to avoid the car but he could only get over so much before we'd make contact with the wall on the other side of us. We ended up hitting the car's side view mirror and knocking it off. It could have been a lot worse. Luckily I have a husband who's been in a few crashes and now drives a big Paramedic van so he's had a bit of training in defensive driving. The best part was when we all pulled over and the other driver came over her first words were "You hit me!" Daniel had to remind her that it's not okay to swerve into another lane on the freeway to avoid hitting the person in front of her. She finally accepted fault after we had a CHP officer come out and let her know that you can't do that. The scratches started at my door and spanned the length of the rear passenger's side door and dented the wheel well. I am glad that I was not driving or we would have probably ping-ponged from car to wall to another car and my car would have been dented on both sides!! But no one was hurt. Just my car. Cody was a bit confused about what happened but after explaining it to him he keeps telling everyone that a naughty person hit our car.
We've been so lucky to avoid any crashes for about 7 years but now we are going through the ups and downs of rental cars, making recorded statements to the insurance, dealing with another person's insurance, and all the other fun stuff. Here are a few pictures of the damages.

Father Son time!

There's nothing like a little Father-Son get away! Marc, Daniel and Cody took a quick little over night er camping trip this past weekend. They went to O'Neill Park in Orange County. This was Cody's first time camping and looks as though there will be many more of these trips in the future. The boys had a great time. Unfortunately, because of the heat they couldn't build a fire which is half of the fun, but they worked around that. Our ward was suppose to have their annual Fathers/Sons camp out but it was postponed last minute and Daniel had already planned for it and told Cody they were going camping. For those of you who have a child around 4 years old, you can't tell them you are going somewhere and get them excited for it and then say you aren't going without a bit of a fuss from them. Cody loved going in and out of the tent and calling it his house. Daniel has been very anxious for Cody to get to the age where he could take him camping among the many other Father/Son activities Daniel has planned for them two. So anyhow, they had a fun night and was awaken by the sun blazing hot, bright and early the next morning. Maybe one of these times they will be able to convince Mommy to come along. While the boys were gone I took advantage of my alone time. I took a trip to the craft store and started getting ambitious again with my painting and other crafts I am working on. I missed my boys but had a fun night to myself.

Cody just hanging out

Cody with his "little house" in the back
Unloading the truck
Getting everything set up
Daniel with his mini-me!