Grace's First Dance Recital

I KNOW, it's been forever since we updated our blog. Perhaps in the new year we'll get back to it, but this is the best place for us to post this video for our family to actually see....

Grace had her very first dance recital on Saturday. Of course we recorded it, especially because Brian was on call and wasn't able to make it. Grace was so proud to show the video to Daddy yesterday afternoon when he got home. She was kind of shy about dancing that morning- we love her serious little face while she concentrates on dancing, and of course we're so proud of her!

Hopefully it doesn't make you sick! Our tripod was broken and it's not easy keeping a video camera steady in one hand and trying to keep hold of a squirmy Kate at the same time.  My favorite dance is the first one to Cruella DeVil.  There's also a little video of Kate in between dances...another baby was crawling on the floor and Kate started crawling around too - more than she ever has since she began walking 4+ months ago!  Also, during the dance when they're wearing the purple skirts, Grace waves to Katie because Katie was hollering and waving her little hand at Grace.

So here it is.... (oh and Grace has a little poufy white hairband around her ponytail to help you keep track of her on the wide shots).....

She's here!

Kate Abigail Adams arrived September 9th at 4:42am. She weighed 6lbs. 13oz. and was 19.5 inches long, and is she doing great! Here are a few photos...more to come in the following days of course! We are so grateful for this sweet blessing and very grateful for all of the prayers on our behalf.

Finished Remodel

Here are photos of our finished kids/guest bathroom remodel. It took a long time and a lot of work, but we are pleased with how it turned out! We LOVE the new shower and tub especially. We are so grateful to Brian's parents who came down several weekends to help us with the work and entertaining Grace! We still plan on doing our bathroom too....we've just got to wait until Brian's schedule is a bit lighter again, and we're adjusted to life with a new baby!

The other big project we've been working on is Grace's new room. It's coming along...here's a photo of the new paint and bunk beds!

Now we just have to convince her to sleep (and stay) in here at night!

Catching Up...

We've had a busy few months this summer, and I'm way behind in posting about anything! We are all doing fine - just frantically trying to get ready for the baby's arrival and trying to squeeze in some summertime fun and birthday celebrations. I've had a miserable cold that just keeps lingering (two and a half weeks!) and that is making me even more tired and yucky feeling than being 8 months pregnant already does. We have a 38 week induction scheduled in a little less than three weeks - please pray that she won't come earlier than that for her health, my health AND my sanity! I need everyone of those days to finish getting ready! I had a non-stress test yesterday and a sonogram and she looks great! Now if we could only finalize our decision on her name....

The bathroom is ALMOST done. A bit more caulking and fixture hanging (oh and putting the door back on), and we'll be done! I'll post photos of that when it's all complete. It's taken awhile, and I DO NOT recommend starting a project like that when you're 7 months pregnant, but we're pretty pleased with how it has turned out.

Grace's room is still not complete either, but I have half of it painted and the bunk beds are nearly fully assembled. We'll be mattress shopping tomorrow and painting more this weekend, so hopefully she'll be in there the begininng of next week. We're hoping she makes the adjustment to her new room quickly...she seems excited about it all so far! She's been in heaven playing with all the boxes that her bedding and bunk beds arrived in!

Gracie's 3rd Birthday

We went up to Colorado the weekend before Grace's birthday to celebrate with our families. Cathi, Bryce and Mark were visiting from Maryland, Joy, Grammy and Grandpa Ted came over from Utah too. We had a great, although short time, with everyone!


It's amazing how fast three years can go by:

2006

2009

The birthday girl and her cake.

Blowing out her candles.

Cake please!


Yummy!

Presents!

Playing with some of her presents!

We had a great party and a great time visiting with everyone! It's so hard to believe how fast Grace is growing up. We love you Gracie, and we're so proud of you!

Fourth of July

We had a great Fourth of July; Brian even had a three day weekend! Our ward had a picnic breakfast at a local park and Grace had a blast running around the park. Never mind that she only ate two bites of her breakfast.

We did a little shopping, and then Brian played with Grace in her pool. She is loving swimming this summer! She likes her pool; the slide is just a little hard to climb.

Some videos of her antics:

(Yeah, the dog barking in the background is just lovely...)

Later that night we had a little dinner party at another park with some friends. It too was a lot of fun. Then we drove up to Rio Rancho and watched their fireworks at a golf course. It was cool because we were up on the hill and could also see some of the main show down in Albuquerque too. Grace loved the fireworks and keeps asking to see more.

After the firework show the kids played a bit with some sparklers. Grace did pretty well with them. Here she is with her friend Luke.

(Thanks to Holli for this photo!)

Bathroom Before & After Demolition

Now that we've decided we are staying here (Brian's decided not to switch specialties), we have been very busy planning our bathroom remodels that we have planned to do before we even closed on this house. Brian and a very generous friend (Thanks Todd!), demolished one of our bathrooms on Friday. So now there is no turning back! Here are the before and after photos.

The vanity before:

(Yes, Grace still uses a paci to sleep...don't get me started!)
The vanity area afterwards:

We've now decided this half wall needs to be narrowed or completely removed, but we haven't decided which yet. The shower before:

The shower area after:

All the old ceramic tile...

removed, mortar and all, thanks to an awesome rented power tool!

The plan: paint the walls, install new light fixture, install new shower plumbing, install new tub, install tile shower surround, tile the floors, reinstall the old toilet, install new baseboards, wall cabinets, vanity, countertop/sink, mirror and hardware. This will all likely take A LONG TIME, since Brian is on an especially busy rotation right now and I'm really no good for heavy lifting right now, but in the end I hope it will all be worth it! We hope to have it completed before the new baby arrives. Who knows when we'll get to the other one...