Sunday, April 29, 2012

Easter and Vacations


For Easter this year we were in Vegas. Caitlyn was on track break and so we planned a trip to Vegas and Utah. The weekend we went down was my nephew's baptism and Easter so it worked out great. I  stayed in Vegas for another week and half while Wade had to come back home and work.  I celebrated my 30th birthday while we were down there as well. It was so fun to see family, for my kids to play with their cousins and to see old friends. It was weird to be back there and have Vegas not be my home anymore. Thankfully it wasn't too hot while we there. We left right before the heat hit. I didn't pull out the camera enough so I only have pictures from Easter.

These are the pictures from Easter Morning. The kids were up way to early but I survived. I am not a morning person. The Easter bunny found us at Grandma's and hid the eggs for an Easter egg hunt. 






 Here are the girls in their Annual Easter Dresses made by mom. I love these dresses. They turned out so cute. The group shot took about 10 pictures to just get one decent one.



After Vegas we went up to Salt Lake. Wade flew back to Vegas to drive up to Utah so he could have a little vacation after the Tax deadline. We went to  Ikea, the Hoogle Zoo and the new City Creek mall. We just hung out the rest of the time. I was able to sneak in a dinner with my Girlfriends I grew up with. That is always fun to see them and catch up. I don't have a ton of pictures because we forgot our camera in Vegas. Wade got a few on his phone though.

 We have to go to Ikea every time we go to Utah. We love that store. We especially wanted to go this time because we need some furniture pieces for our house. This picture below is the girls with their cousin Rylee eating lunch at Ikea. We love to eat there.


 The kids just play all day while we are there and by bedtime are so tired. Elsa fell asleep reading so we snapped a picture.

Here the girls are at the Zoo. This was Sam's first time and she loved all the animals. She would get so excited over all of them. It was so fun to watch her.

 The one thing Caitlyn wanted to see at the Zoo was a peacock. I don't know where she got that from. We saw the peacock and then when we went on the carousel that is what Caitlyn wanted to ride.

Photo Shoot

Since we have not had professional pictures taken since Sam was 6 weeks old I decided we should get some of the Girls done. We will due Family ones done after the baby comes. So while we were in Vegas I decided to have our friend Ashley Callihan take them for us.  I was really happy with how they turned out. I have come a long way when it comes to taking pictures with kids. When Caitlyn was around the age of 2 I would come home in tears because she did not cooperate. Now I am just happy if we can get one good one of each of the kids.  I  know Ashley had great visions for what she wanted but Sam had other ideas. You will notice I am in the one with the girls. I am not suppose to be but Sam was having none of it. When Ashley was trying to be sneaky and get one of Sam real quick, Sam would immediately turn away. I was just grateful we got what we got. Ashley was very patient with the girls.  So these are the results.









Sunday, April 1, 2012

New Home in Reno Nevada

Above is our new house in Reno, NV. Wade found a new job working for a private trust company so we moved and started a new adventure in our lives. He is still preparing tax returns but it is not the same grind as public accounting. So far we have been really happy up here. It is fun to have a change of pace. Wade is much happier in his new job. No more long hours. He is home by 5 or 5:30 every night and doesn't have to work Saturdays. He enjoys the people he works with as well. We love seeing him more. Also, our home is about 5 minutes from his office so he often comes home for lunch. Our ward has been great and we have met some awesome people. The girls are adjusting well too. Caitlyn is liking school and her teachers. She is making friends and loving having her own room. We found a preschool for Elsa and she is loving that. We were able to get Sam into the early childhood intervention for speech. She should qualify for the school district preschool when she turns 3 in August. We are excited about that she needs to talk! It will eliminate a lot of tantrums. Also, We are expecting Baby #4. I am due Septemeber 26th. We are excited. Things have fallen right into place up here and we know we are where we are suppose to be. We miss being close to family though. Below I have pictures of our new house. We feel very fortunate to have been able to purchase this home. When we were in Vegas we just never knew if we would ever get out of our little home. We are truly blessed they way everything has worked out. This home was a bank owned home but was in great condition. We really didn't have to do much to it. All of the appliances were gone and there are no blinds. Those were really the major things. We purchased all new appliances. We are still working on the blinds. We just have paper ones from home depot. There is still some furniture to buy also. The home is 2700 sq ft, 3 car garage with 4 bedrooms and a loft.

Here is a picture of our piano , I mean Lving and dining room. We do not have any furniture for the room so we call it our piano room. When you walk in the front door this room is on your left and the stairs are right in front of you.
Here is our Garage. It is a two car tandum garage. The girls play a lot in the third car part. Sometimes I wonder if we even needed a backyard! Eventually we want to build some shelves but other things are a higher priority.Here is our fabulous backyard. It feels huge to me just because we didn't have one in Vegas. I know as soon as it warms up the girls will love to be out there. We want to get a swing set and maybe a playhouse.When you walk in from the garage there is a bathroom on your right.
And on the left is our laundry room with a sink. I love the laundry room. There is cabinets for storage as well. I love my new Washer and Dryer too.
Here is our family room.
Another favorite feature of mine is the pantry in our Kitchen. I can fit so much food in it. It is awesome
Here is the kitchen. It overlooks into the family room. The only appliance we didn't have to buy was the refrigeratorl because we had that from Vegas. That is why it is white and the rest are stainless steel.
Now we move upstairs. This is the entrance to our master bedroom. I love all the storage this house has. I don't have to get creative with closets and other places.
When you enter the master to the left is our bathroom. It is nice to have lots of space. The girls love our big bathtub for bathtime.Here is our room. This picture was taken when we still had boxes around. I know some of the pictures show kind of a mess. If I waited to take pictures until the house was perfect the pictures would have never been taken. With 3 little kids and a pregnant mama a clean house happens about once a week and lasts for about 5 minutes. I am okay with that too. I have accepted that now is not the time that my house will be perfect. One day I will be able to clean my house and it will stay clean.Another view of our room.
This is the hallway when you first come up the stairs. Again, I love all the storage. Those are the doors to our master bedroom.
These are some cupboards in our room next to our bathroom.Close-up of some cupboards in our hallway.This is the girls bathroom. I love that the shower and toilet are separate from the sinks. I can just picture my teenage daughters fighting over bathroom space and I am glad one can shower while the others get ready.This is Caitlyn's Bedroom. We now have a queen bed in here so it will be our guest room too. She was so excited about having her own room.Here is another view of her room.
Here is our loft. It is kind of a weird shape so for now it is just our toy room.
Here is Sam's room.
Another view of Sam's room.This is Elsa's room. The bunk beds are back together now that Caitlyn got a new bed. When The new baby comes Elsa and Sam will share a room. I am keeping Sam in the crib as long as possible though so she will still take naps.
Another view of Elsa's room.That is our house. Once again we are so thankful to have it. We thought we would be in our little house in Vegas forever. We are so thankful for the way everything has worked out. I am going to try and be more regular about blogging now that we are away from so many friends and family.