New Do's

Lily was in desperate need of a haircut. She will be 2 years old in 2 months and has NEVER had her haircut. Not even a trim. What you need to know about Lily is that she won't hold still, especially when I try to do her hair. This is definitely a problem when the hair dresser has scissors in her hand! Evan on the other hand is great at getting his hair cut. He holds perfectly still so I have never had to worry about where to get his haircut. Rob or I just take him wherever we are going to get our haircut.

So I decided to go to Cookie Cutters for Lily's wiggle sake. The kids pick out a movie and then pick out a car to sit in while getting their hair cut. Lily isn't a movie fan. Once again, she doesn't sit still long enough to watch even a few minutes of it. I picked a Dora movie since she really likes a Dora book from the library. Lily picked this pretty pink car to sit in and to my surprise she sat perfectly still! I don't know if Dora mesmerized her or driving the pink car was super entertaining or the whole experience was just so new. But all that matters is SHE SAT STILL!!Evan picked the dune buggy and watched Shark Tales. Of course he just sat there as the hair dresser cut away. Evan requested "sticking up" hair like his uncle Tyler. This is the shortest Evan has ever had his hair. He looks so grown up.After the big event, the kids got suckers and balloons as if driving a cool car and watching a movie weren't enough. Plus there is an indoor playground. A new haircut puts everyone in a good mood, even kids!Showing off the new do's. They both look so much older!Evan's fo-hawk. All day he kept asking me if it still looked like Tyler's hair and if it was still sticking up. I miss Lily's cute baby curls a bit because they made her look like a baby, but who can resist this cute bob? Truthfully, Lily's hair before the cut looked too much like a mullet so welcome to the year 2009, Lily!

Our Water Adventure

Why haven't I blogged for a month? Well a few reasons - we have been outside a lot this summer and I would rather be outside than starring at a computer. Another reason, I have been updating myself on everyone elses blogs and then it gets too late for me to update my own blog. I am sure no one can relate! But the biggest reason is the past few weeks we have been dealing with a lot of water. Our basement flooded about 2.5 weeks ago. Our washer's drainage hose came disconnected and ran the rinse cycle for 6 hours. But instead of filling up the washer with water it would just drain out the hole where the drainage hose connects. Lovely. So I woke up to a very wet basement.

I called our landlords to let them know this fabulous news. They were driving up to Yellowstone for vacation and am sure I pretty much ruined their vacation. Rob and I felt like we were moving again while we carried up all of our belongings from the basement to our garage, living room and family room. As you can imagine our house was a mess.

I borrowed my neighbor's shop vac to get rid of the standing water in the laundry room and then borrowed my grandma's carpet cleaner to suck up the water in the carpet and pad. Rob and I sucked up 45 gallons of water which took several hours. Our next adventure was to get the carpet out of the basement. All I can say is luckily our basement is small and there are only 2 small rooms and a hallway of carpet to take out because wet carpet is heavy!! We took the carpet out on our neighbors driveway (they had moved) because it was such a hot, sunny day we figured it would dry well outside.

Well Rob got ready for work and left while I continued to suck up water. I used the carpet cleaner again, what a great invention, to suck up as much water as I could from the carpet pad. As luck would have it, about 45 minutes after we got the carpet outside it began to rain. Rob was at work at this point so I was running around like a crazy women bringing everything into the garage. I was quite the site carrying the carpets all by myself. We also had some stuff drying on our back patio that I quickly picked up and brought inside.

Later that evening when I had dealt with as much water as I could handle, the kids and I headed to Home Depot to get some of those huge carpet blowers to dry the pad out. But before that stop we decided to stop at Micky D's for some Happy Meals and playtime in the play area. I needed a break from the flood and the kids had been deprived all day. Evan and Lily had a blast playing and I just sat and relaxed for a moment. I felt pretty good since I had had a chance to shower before we headed out and spent the moment forgetting about the day's events.

Next we went to Home Depot for the carpet blowers. The kids loved helping me get them to the car because they are on wheels so Evan pulled one and Lily and I pulled the other. Once home I got the blowers doing their job and started to go through some of the boxes that got wet in our storage room. My mom showed up with 8 plastic storage bins and helped me transfer things from boxes to the bins. Great idea Mom. Luckily our only losses were 7 board books. We had several boxes get wet but nothing damaged inside of them.

We let the pads dry for over a week and then our landlords came and relaid the carpet. After the carpet was back installed I cleaned all the carpets downstairs and decided to go for it and clean all the carpets in the house. Our last thing on this fun adventure was to get everything back downstairs. We have most everything back in the basement except our guest bed. Rob and I were tired of carrying things downstairs so hopefully soon that bed will get in it's room and we will be back to normal.

So the positive out of this experience are:

1. All of my carpets are clean!
2. Things are reorganized and clean- well the playroom stayed organized for about 30 seconds until Lily and Evan invaded.
3. I am ready for the next flood - all my things are in plastic bins not cardboard boxes
4. I will check the hoses on my washer regularly

Don't feel bad for us, we really have had a great August with many trips to Thanksgiving Point gardens, children's gardens, and dinosaur museum. We also had a great weekend trip up to Logan to visit Rob's brother's family and go to the Logan Temple. Our dear friends, Reed and Andrea Reichwald, also visited us for a night. We met them in Minnesota and had a great time catching up and seeing how big their girls are getting. Olivia and Evan started where they left off in Minnesota or #8 as Evan calls it (that was the # of our townhouse). They played well and didn't want to part. We had a fun summer and are now ready to get back into routine with school in session.

Pink Eye

So Evan started preschool 2 weeks ago and is home today missing school due to pink eye. Gross. Luckily I have eye ointment left over from when Lily got pink eye in the spring from the gym daycare. We didn't even make it 2 full weeks of school without getting some kind of illness. I have a feeling this is how the year will go - if it isn't pink eye it will be some sort of cold or flu. So here's to a school year full of snot, coughs, sore throats, fevers, and if we are really lucky, pink eye again! (No, that is not Evan's eye. His pink eye is pretty mild. We luckily caught it early).

Family Time

Last night I was scheduled to work, but got cancelled. We were in desperate need of some family time so we went miniature golfing at Boondocks. Both kids loved it and Rob and I also really enjoyed ourselves! Evan picked the Lizard course to play.

Survived Hole #1

Rob and his lucky green ball. Rob gave me a handicap of 1 on each hole and I barely beat him!The kids were so cute carrying their club and ball, acting like they knew what they were doing!Lily was attached to my club and ball. She would not put it down. Rob and I actually switched off with his club and ball and just let Lily carry mine around. Any time we would look at Lily she would pull the club and ball toward her and say "mine"! Yes, she is in the lovely "mine" stage.This lizard was the last hole and if you putted the ball into the right spot it blew fire. Rob was the only one of us to get the cool fire effect and Evan thought it was way cool!
Mini golf was a blast and I think we will be doing it more often if anyone wants to join us! Though the bumper boats and go carts also look like a lot of fun. So we may have to try those out next time.

Rob's Birthday

Yesterday was Rob's birthday and he wanted to keep it low key. Since he was the birthday boy that is exactly what we did. Rob asked for no presents but Evan insisted so Rob asked Evan for a red matchbox car. I took Evan to the store and he picked out a red matchbox car but decided that Dad needed 3 presents so he also picked Rolos and a Kit Kat. It may not be much but it is what Evan insisted Rob would want for his birthday! Evan hid the gifts around the house and Rob searched for them.

While Rob was searching for one of his presents, Lily started opening another one!Rob's Loot! So cute that this is what Evan assumed Rob would LOVE to have for his birthday!
After church we drove up American Fork canyon, which we voted is the narrowest and windiest canyon, and hiked Cascade Springs. It was beautiful. We also enjoyed a picnic with some really large ants. They aren't kidding that ants come to picnics. After our hike we decided to take the backway down and headed through Heber and then down Provo Canyon. It was a gorgeous drive and made us thankful to live in such a beautiful state. Evan hiked the whole way with his "walking stick". He told us that he needed it so he could "climb the big mountain".Nothing sweeter than a dad and his daughter.Best picture we could get of the three of them! At least we tried. For our picnic I think the kids only ate BBQ chips, but Rob and I enjoyed the pinwheel sandwiches I made.
For dinner we of course had Rob's favorite, RIBS, and his favorite chocolate bundt cake (yes, that is it on Rob's teeth).Evan tried to beat that picture with chocolate fangs and a milk mustache.We relaxed and enjoyed the day. My parents' stopped by to wish Rob Happy Birthday and it was nice chatting with them. My dad had brought some digital pictures that he had converted from slides. A lot of them were of me when I was a child. Rob decided that our chubby kids definitely get it from me! It was a great day and a nice birthday for Rob.

Granger Orthodontics Update

I wanted to post some updated photos of Rob's West Valley office, Granger Orthodontics. Rob and his business partner just finished their first week of being open and it went pretty well. There is still lots of work ahead of them to have everything running smoothly but we are all just taking it a day at a time! Once again thanks to my fabulous designer friend, Kelley, who designed the office. She is simply amazing!

External sign that faces BangerterClose up of sign
Windows into Rob's office from hallway of building Door into office

Your cute greeter
Reception Desk (a brushed nickle sign is being made to hang on the red wall). The waiting area/reception desk is my second favorite area. I totally love it but just wait until you see the treatment area. That is my first love.
Petrified Wood marble counter top at reception desk, so cool!Waiting area, now there are 2 oversized chairs in this area and a tree in the right cornerChildren's area that is still being worked on. Though the most important thing to the kids is there - the arcade game. Eventually there will be some kid chairs, train table, and TV. You can't see but on the left wall there is a book rack.Consult Room. Still in progress as well! A custom desk is being built for the left side of this room where Rob will sit to discuss treatment options with patient's parents.Hall to treatment bay. The wall of fame - it was such a good idea. This picture doesn't do justice, actually all the pictures don't do the office justice!!Xray room which is shared with the dentist next door.BathroomTeeth brushing area or kiss your cute daughter areaHallway paintingView of treatment bay as you walk down the hall. There are 2 chairs now but can have 4 for the future when it gets crazy busy (we hope!).Treatment Bay which is my favorite room. It is well lit with lots of windows and I love the red cabinets, the countertops, the wood floors, and paintings to the left. I just love it all! Rob loves it too which is good since this is where he will spend most of his time.Treatment Bay with cute Kelley and her ever-so-handy husband Brandon hanging the canvases.Semi-private room used for impressions and adult patient who don't want to line up with the teenagers in the treatment bay. The countertop is in now.Sterilization area
The lab, nothing much more to say about that.Staff Lounge which will eventually have a table and chairs so they can actually eat in here!! Those are lockers on the left.
Rob and Micah's personal bathroom off of their office. This was a huge requirement for Rob.
Rob and Micah's office. Obviously this room has been deprived with no furniture yet, but eventually a desk and bookshelf will be in here.

As you can see it is a gorgeous office but there is still some work to be done. The finish is so close in sight though. I am so proud of Rob and all the hard work he has put into this office. I am also grateful for Micah who came into this practice and has put his whole heart into it. He has helped out Rob so much and relieved a lot of stress. And the office wouldn't be this beautiful without our great designer Kelley. She has added so much flare and life to the office. Kelley has made it a fun place to work. So all Rob needs now is an office full of patients. Bring them on!!

Sponge Ball Waterfight

Today my neighbor, Nicole, and I made sponge balls for a water fight for the kids. Nicole got the idea out of the Family Fun magazine. Check out Nicole's blog on how the sponge balls were made. It is super easy, and inexpensive. Plus the kids had a blast with them. After they used them for a water fight the kids used the sponge balls to wash their bikes. Ian and Evan decided the sponge balls weren't enough and brought the hoses out too!

The three amigos - Evan, Carter, and Coleson. These three have so much fun together. Evan will miss them so much once they move.

First Crop....EVER

Yesterday Rob picked our first ever home-grown tomato and zucchini. He is so proud of it! Every night when Rob gets home from work he walks out to the small garden he planted and admires, watches over, tends to, whatever you want to call it. Evan and Lily usually accompany him and they get just as excited as Rob does to see progress in the garden. Tonight I picked one more zucchini and 2 yellow squash and we ate them for dinner. The tomato was eaten last night and it was all so delicious. Home-grown really does taste better!

Bitter Sweet

Our neighbors have been gone for 40 days and are now back. It is so SWEET to have them back! Our cul-de-sac is so much more lively and Evan is ecstatic to have his friends back to play with. Evan gets along so well with Carter and Coleson and they have so much fun together. All three of them are all boy. Not only does Evan have fun but Rob and I love to chat and hang out with Nicole and Jason. We have only know each other for 3 months and half of that time one of us has been away on vacation, but somehow it seems like we have known each other for much longer. Plus Lily gets so exited when she sees Tatum who so cutely says to Lily, "Hi Baby".

The BITTER part of this is they are moving at the end of this month so we only have 3 weeks to enjoy their company. It is best for their family to move and they have many exciting adventures that await them but it is hard not to be sad. We are trying to enjoy every moment left. The kids played together for most of Saturday and after a long day of playing Coleson, Carter and Evan veged out on a TV show. This is a rare moment since they usually don't sit still for long!

Granger Orthodontics Grand Opening!

Rob's West Valley office, Granger Orthodontics, is opening tomorrow!! Rob's business partner, Micah, I mean Dr Mortensen, will be seeing the first patients tomorrow and Rob will be in the office Tuesday. Rob and Micah have put so much time and energy into the office and hopefully it will all pay off. They were at the office until midnight last night trying to get some last minute things done. If you know anyone who needs braces send them their way!

Here are some pictures of the office about a month ago. Obviously a lot more has been done since these pics but this is the last time I saw the office. We are going today to see the completed office so I will post more updated pictures later. My good friend Kelley designed the office and it is absolutely beautiful! It all started with us asking her to help us pick out carpet and it turned into her designing the whole office. I don't think she knew what she was getting herself into, but she has done an amazing job. Starting a business has been a lot more work than any of us ever imagined!

This is the reception desk.
This is looking from the treatment bay into a semi-private treatment room. The coolest cabinets for the treatment bay. I absolutely love these!
The sterilization areaThe semi private treatment roomStaff lounge with lockers on the left.I love how all the rooms have different colors and styles of cabinets. I can't wait to see the finished results today. If you are in the area, 4100 South Bangerter in the Granger Medical Building, stop by and take a tour. Rob will be in the office on Tuesday and Thursday & Micah will be there Monday and Wednesday. Wish them luck!