House Remodel

Phil sleeping on the couch after the party.

 

So we have been busy working on the house. We had to redo the plumbing because we have slowly been turning sinks off and messing with toilets for the past year. We thought it would be a great idea to start the process a month before Christmas so we could be finished just in time for the Nuber Family Christmas party we were hosting on December 23rd. Well we started tearing into it and then Phil got a new calling at church, then he got different responsibilities at work that would require more travel starting the month of December and to top it all off it was a standard remodel project that required all things to take WAY longer than one planned. Needless to say we didn't have it finished in time for today's Christmas party. We did however have amazing friends come and help us day after day in order to have a functioning kitchen and bathroom. Plus the house was a total disaster and all my friends came yesterday and helped me clean and scrub everything. I was on the verge of tears all day yesterday as we worked and I thought about how much I love these people that are so willing to come over to my house and spend hours of their day helping me. They are amazing and wonderful and they have been the greatest blessing to me. Chris Newville and Cory Fowler were juge helps over the past weeks with drywall, tile, cutting and moving out our huge radiators and then yesterday just doing anything we asked them to do until wee hours of the morning. Alexis, Lexi and Rachel came and helped clean and paint and make me laugh and feel loved in all the mess and distruction. We moved a lot of the mess down to the basement today in order to have the party and still have room to work for the next month while we finish everything we have planned. I will post more pictures as the work progresses. I wish I had pictures from yesterday to show all the people and work getting done, but I didn't find the camera until the mess was cleaned up.

 Phil has been working like made to get things done and has had very little sleep this past month. He was up the last 48 hours and made it through the party just to crash on the couch after the last person walked out the door. He is wonderful and amazing.

 

Thanksgiving Past

I was thinking this morning about Thanksgiving ten years ago. I was super pregnant with Miya (almost 38 weeks), Phil had gone over to the Island to play in the Turkey Bowl. I was carrying a large pot of mashed potatoes up the hill to his parents house questioning why I was by myself. Thinking back about situations makes me laugh when I think we thought we were such good communicators. I remember being so mad that I had let Phil go play football while I got things together and then walked my pregnant self up the hill. I am pretty sure I used the silent treatment to let Phil know I was not happy about things, but didn't ever voice my concern before hand. I sometimes like to be the martyr, but it always makes it difficult when I don't die sacrificing myself for the good of the family! We ate a ton of great food that day and Miya was born a few days later. Hopefully ten years later I am a little better at communicating...Phil is currently playing football and I am baking pies to take to the Island, but he will to be home by 11:00 so we can get over there together. It is amazing how much more power is in words than in the silence I once loved to create.

Things I am most thankful for:
1) the Gospel-it is just amazing and blesses my life with hope and faith
2)my family-seriously they are fantastic
3)my health-I will appreciate it everyday
4)great friends-some I haven't "talked" to in a while, but the world has given us facebook to keep track of each other
5)a beautiful world-I love being outside (or looking out the window while working on the kitchen) and seeing all the wonderful reminders that I have a Heavenly Father who loves me

Seriously

So lately Phil and I have had a good chuckle while we work with each other on the house because every time I make a mistake (which happens often when taking nails out of the floor) I mumble "seriously". We have been hard at work whenever we have a free moment and hope to have the house put back together for our family Christmas party December 23rd...things are not looking very positive right now, but I am sure once we get the cabinets put back together and all the kitchen stuff back in the right place it won't feel so crazy. Our house is a disaster. We had a babysitter last weekend and I warned her that it was super cold and messy. When she got here she said, "it's not that bad, I have seen worse." What??? I can't imagine things worst than this. It makes me feel crazy with all this mess around and I can't wait to have things put back together and for everything to have a home.
This week was a tough one with elections and coming to terms with Obama for another four years. Then to top that off this morning we went in the garage to get some tools and found that someone broke in last night and stole our tools! Hurray! We were nice enough to have a wheelbarrow for them to load with tools so they wouldn't have to carry heavy things up the drive-way. I love when things like this happen and just when everything is torn apart. I hope the stolen tools buys a lot of pot now that it is legal in Washington. Funny how everyone is writing their things they are grateful for this month and I am venting on mine. So, I am thankful for a husband that can fix things and that keeps his cool when I have a hard time maintaining mine.

New Callings

We got a new Stake Presidency a few weeks ago and Phil got called to be the executive secretary. He is working with really great men, but he has been using all my blogging computer time. I guess we all make sacrifices. Somehow October came and went. We made it through Halloween without going into a sugar induced coma and find ourselves on the other side of the holiday surprised it is November. I love fall and we have yet to turn on our heater...which means bring a coat if you come for a visit.

Family Pictures

We got family pictures taken a few weeks ago. My friend Jamie is amazing at taking pictures and editing to make us all look great. I love these pictures and the people in them. It was a perfect day for us with a little wind to make us feel like models. You will all get a nice picture of us in form of a Christmas card to put on your fridge. Lucky you!

Cannon

Finally got Cannon a skateboard and he is always asking questions about how to do tricks. I showed him all my tricks by sitting on the board and riding down the hill.

Zoo

We took the kids to the zoo the week before school started. I love the zoo and it was a beautiful day. I love how depressed the animals look in all the pictures we took. Cannon loves the sharks and we wished the walrus tank wasn't being cleaned. I have missed them the last two times I have gone and they are the coolest animals at the zoo. The Tacoma zoo is really pretty and has a great view of the water as a backdrop. Plus I finally got cotton candy for the kids on this trip and they thought I was mother-of-the-year.

Anniversary

I love when we come home from a trip together and these are all the pictures we have. You can tell we are always using Phil's phone and that he loves taking great pictures of me whenever we sit down somewhere. I was able to go to Vegas with him on a work trip for our anniversary. They were having a cold front so it was only in the upper 80s which was perfect. I was the only one out by the pool and everyone else was commenting on the cold. Phil even made it back one night before the sun went down so we could hang at the pool together. We went to a show down on the strip and had some amazing tacos at this little stand and then tried to stay as far away from the strip as we could. Our hotel was out in a new development that was super nice and only had one casino on it. The kids were at Aunt Andra's for a few nights then at the Hendrix's and spent the last day at Kerri's who took them all to the beach. The kids had a great time and were sad when we got back to pick them up. It is great to have such good people around to watch our kids so we can do these little trips as just the two of us. It is so great to be married to such a great guy and to be able to celebrate being married for 14 years.

Triathlon

After the race

Just before the finish line

Phil got my better side at the time clock

Phil and I did the army triathlon in August. It has been a few years so we thought we should do it again. We were ill prepared, but I beat my time by 12 minutes and Phil his by about an hour (it helps when you don't have a torn ACL and a missing pedal on your bike.) My swim was slower and I wasn't sure if I could run during the transitions because when I got out of the water no one was running to get to the bikes. I used Amanda's nice bike that we picked up the day before. Amanda told me not to change out of the higher gears so I had a great bike, but I didn't really know how to use it. I need to get a better bike to ride around for training, but they are crazy expensive. There were two ladies that came out of the water way after me and passed me at about mile 11 on the bikes. I wanted to keep up with them and I almost changed the middle gear, but was afraid I couldn't get back to those gears. I passed them on the run and managed to do the 3 mile run with a 6:50/mile pace. Really I just didn't want a guy from our ward, Andy Wilson, to pass me up so I really pushed the run. Plus when you can't feel your legs after the bike you get and the transition you get a funky pace going anyway. No pictures of Phil during the race because he finished way before me. It was fun though and we are trying to talk friends into do it with us next year. Everyone is afraid of the swim, but I inform them that I always do the sidestroke and would be happy to teach them because it is so cool. One guy I was swimming by stopped and asked me if I was okay because he didn't know what I was doing.

Movie in the Park

While we were in Portland we found a park that was playing a movie in the park and sold popcorn and treats. If was a great time and I wished we could pull something like this off in our neighborhood.

Concert with Kids

We took the kids to Oregon in August for a final trip before school started. It was a super hot week there and we had a great time swimming and doing outdoor things in the evening once Phil was done with work. They have an outdoor mall just across the street from our hotel that had a concert one of the nights. The band wasn't great, but the kids liked watching from the play structure and they loved eating treats from the candy store.

Camping

Camped at Nisqually and then spent the next day clearing a trail to the river. The kids loved sleeping in the tent and breakfast the next morning. Phil and I decided if we were going to camp we needed to get something to sleep on so we aren't on the hard ground. I am too young to feel so old after sleeping on the ground. We walked the rope bridge and the kids thought it was super fun to bounce on while I was screaming for them to stop. I am such a big baby and hate when I feel I am up in the air (even when it is about 6 inches over water less than 4 feet deep. Phil tried throwing the machete back over the little pond and didn't quite make it so he had to fish it out. He tried with a golf club from the car and then just jumped in and got wet.

Summer Nights

Playing kickball at Nisqually before building a fire for a cook-out with friends. Nothing like kicking up dirt, throwing a ball and laughing with friends. The summer is always so busy with people vacationing so we didn't get to spend very much time with the Elsworths and Paces, but it was fun when we got together.