Working on the House

The first few weeks after we were given the key we worked on the house. New paint, new fans, new toilets and lots of cleaning. We're still fixing things up...Hal tells us that you're never really done fixing everything up. It's just like women's work, it's never done.
Dallin and Braden smile after successfully installing a new ceiling fan. A good ceiling fan is essential in the Mojave Desert summer heat. During the day that fan is on at the highest speed. We won't be seeing much of Dallin this summer since he took a job in Pennsylvania for 3 months. Notice the great paint job behind the guys. Gaila balanced on a ladder and got the edging just right. She did an awesome job.
Levi is a really good helper. In fact, if he sees someone working he wants to works with them. He was especially interested in painting. The first night we were working on the house we were walking out to the car and we noticed Levi wasn't walking with us. My Mom found him setting down a paint brush on the front patio. We didn't think much of it until the next day when the light of the sun showed his handy work- he primed under the family room window. After that we decided to keep the kids out of the house while we were painting.

We're Home

It's now official. Braden and I are living in our new home! We moved in on Saturday. We have lots of cleaning and painting to do, and a ton of unpacking! Levi and Olivia are adjusting well to their new room. Levi's favorite part about living in the new home is that our neighbors have a really cute puppy. So far Olivia's favorite part is the orange juice in our new frigde (she's had a fever the last few days and the only thing she'd eat/drink was orange juice).

It's a great feeling scrubing my own kitchen. I hope the feeling won't go away. For now I'll just enjoy it while it's here!

Hermana Heywood

On Mother's Day Whitney got to call the family. We put the speaker phone on and all listened in. Whitney is doing great. She's happy, hilarious as always, and she speaks English with an ancent! She told a whole story in English then in Spanish. She's been out 9 months-thats 1/2 way done with her mission!

She says she doesn't really miss us all because she loves being in Chile. Although she is already planning her homecoming dinner-perhaps meatloaf but she doesn't know because her "brain might explode with all those flavors!" (that's a direct Whitney quote). Apparently where she is in Chile the people don't cook much with seasonings.

Even though she doesn't miss us too much, we all miss her and were really excited to get to talk with her. And to think only 9 months more to go!

The FAMILY!

A family picture taken in March 2008. After a long day of driving to Long Beach and back, eating at one of Marc's favorite restaurants "Bubba Gump" and enjoying a walk along the shore, the whole family met back up in Hesperia. We were all there except for Hermana Heywood who is in Chile. I'm excited to get to talk to her on Mother's Day. Whitney's been out in the mission field for 9 months! My blog is full of pictures of our kids-so heres one for me and Braden.

Watering with Papa

Levi and Olivia love working and playing in Papa's backyard. This year Papa's trees are covered in fruit and the roses in the frontyard are in beautiful full bloom.

After a trip to Texas Papa Heywood gave Levi a shirit that reads:

"Life is Good When You've Got a Papa like Mine!"

How true that is.

More Broccoli Please!

Olivia loves broccoli. During Sunday dinner last month she kept asking for more and "mor broc-lee please!" Of all the things she could love I'm happy its something good for her. She could eat 7 (or more) servings of broccoli. So to quote Kronk, "More broccoli?"

Sorry the videos a bit long, but it does have some great music.

Chocolate Bananas and my little kidletts

Chocolate Bananas. A few weeks ago I was craving chocolate bananas-before lunch time. So we froze the bananas, mixed up the chocolate, dipped them and spent the next few minutes enjoying the delicious treat. Well, I went a little overboard. It was before lunch...and I did finish off the "extra" chocolate. Lets just say I never want to eat a chocolate covered banana again.