Flip...But No Flop!

First off, I have to say "sorry" for the poor layout. I was going to try and figure out how to get them next to eachother as quickly as I could, but it just started to take too long and I didn't want to have to download the pictures again. Here ya have the pics, Mare!

We did our second flip and it has taken me quite a while to actually post it all. This is the house I mentioned in our Christmas card... Having just given birth a month before, I pretty much had nothing to do with it, except a few suggestions. We had a friend partner up with us on this-- quite handy that he is in construction himself (owns a successful company). This house was absolutely disgusting. I thought our first one was bad... nothing in comparison to this. Shocking that one would live in such conditions. The roof was insulation and thin sheets of wood. Carpet was disgusting. Critters all over.
I had open toed shoes on and so I would not enter the bedrooms with carpet. Gidg, definitely, was not brought in! People watched the process and when finished, would walk through the house wide-eyed. It was snagged off the market the same day it went up for sale (a family living down the street, actually). Once again, people on the street are making efforts to fix up their own houses and yards. Our friend was able to use HIGH quality materials because of his company. This place has better materials than our own house.

Not much needs to be said explaining the front room. Try not to gag as you think about living in it before. New walls, floors, AC, windows, paint, outlets, lighting, ceiling.


















Notice the lift in the ceiling here. The ceiling was just a couple inches above the boys' heads. Refinished cabinets, new stove, sink, faucet, and fridge. Granite counter, fancy tile backsplash, new travertine flooring, and new ceiling.

New mirror, cabinets, sink/top, faucet, shower, window, toilet, flooring, lighting, and such.

New walls, windows, paint, travertine flooring, lighting, baseboards, etc...





Ewwwww! Talk about mold. Glass everywhere. Spiders. Stains. I don't even want to guess what else.

Not anymore!!!

New carpet, walls, ceiling (cottage cheese taken off all ceilings), windows, lighting, paint, closet, etc...

A whole new room was added on to the back of the house-- a fancy laundry room: New hookups and supplies, granite counter tops, windows, large room.

A good month of work...and the boys are ready and waiting for the next!

Christmas Collection

Our Christmas spirit was ignited when we went to the tree lot and got ourselves a tree. As you can see from the photo below... we decided to go big. Yikes! It's size in the house kinda shocked David and made us a laugh a bit. I even had them cut a few inches off, but the tip top is still bent. I can't even fit the bow on the top!

We usually have a smaller tree and so I was a bit short on ribbon and decorations. Shhh, don't tell anyone that there is pretty much nothing on the backside of the tree.

Any trip that David and I take, we buy an ornament as memory for the place. Here are ones we've collected...

The first was actually given to me for my b-day by

those at an orphanage I volunteered at in Ecuador.

The next was from a trip to Jackson with Dave's family in June '06. We would drive through the Tetons looking for animals to watch, the bears did like their berries.

This March ('07) Dave and I got away to NYcity on a last minute business trip. Just a weekend, so we rushed to take it all in. We bought this ornament on the top of the Empire State Bldg. We took a cozy horse drawn carriage ride through Central Park. While there we realized that there is a whole lot to do in Vegas and we NEVER take advantage of it! We just stick to our area most of the time. Gotta get better.

April '06 David took me to Disneyland for my birthday. We had so much fun. Even more than I thought we could, being just two adults. It was just what I had wanted.(haven't put a picture in yet, since we didn't have a tree last year). It was the 50th anniversary of Disneyland.

Feb. '07: We went to Disneyland with my students!! One of my students invited the entire class (including a parent and sibling for each- some even more!), all expenses paid to Disneyland and CA Advent for his Bday. His dad booked a fancy bus, nice hotel rooms (1 per fam), fancy dinner and lunches. He bought each student (and Dave n' I) baseball caps, and we all got our silhouettes done. Mickey came and visited us during dinner in the Grand Hotel. He had set a lot up ahead of time and so we didn't wait in any lines for more than 20 min! We arrived at 1pm and Dave n' I had "done" Disneyland by 10 pm! It was awesome.

June '07: We went to San Fran. I tell you, one of the best trips we have taken so far. We were treated, once again, to the ENTIRE thing by the same student's dad who took the class to Disneyland. It was my student's brother's birthday this time. He got to take 3 friends and each brought a parent. My student brought one other friend (and his fam). I tell you, talk about organized! We did it ALL in just two days. I was wiped out when we got back to school, but it was the last week and so I didn't have to do intense grading. I'll definitely have to tell more about it later.

Oct. '05: We went to Jackson with Dave's parents, two siblings and their spouses. Beautiful time of year. The fish represent our fly fishing experience. I LOVED it. too bad I hooked our guide, david AND myself. Oops. I did manage to get the biggest fish though. I seriously love the sport!

April '07: We had decided to take a big trip, just the two of us, before we became parents and we actually did. Cancun, Mexico! I was four months pregnant, but it wasn't noticeable. It was "Spring Break", yet not busy. We went to the pyramids (stayed late, paid a guard and climbed them. cool), the beach, the "jungle" (got a massage in a tucked away hut with pretty much only a roof; fun hearing the real birds and such), and Margaritaville (pretty funny, early evening- not bad). We took a ride on the dolphins, so that helped us choose the ornament. We did the "Superman," the dolphins pushed our feet and swam, lifting us out of the water!

Oct. '06: We made it to Yellowstone while in Jackson. So neat to see it all. We were within arms reach of the bison, saw Old Faithful, and all sorts of natural things!

Nov. '03: Switzerland!! Brady Industries won a trip to Switzerland through one of their distributers. It was because of the Linen division and so David and I got to go!! One day we did a "drive around" and just happened upon all sorts of castles, a neat winery, and the temple. We were going to rent some bikes, but then we saw a bunch of Jaguars in the front of the hotel (there was a convention for them). We were joking around and thought it would be funny to take one for a ride. I actually asked. They handed the keys and said, "No time limit, just refill the gas." Ahh! Cheaper than renting bikes! Sure added to it all. We also went paragliding, running off of a 3000 ft. mountain and then "flying" by parachute back to a meadow in front of the hotel. It actually felt like I was sitting on a swing. Crazy.

Well, all for now. Reading Suzie's and realizing the "journal" benefits, I figured this a good place to record the memories while fresh enough.

Just Cuz(n)

Well, while down in CA this last week I had a chance to get over to see my twin cousin (that's what we told people we were in Elementary). People probably caught on when we brought in the word cousin, realizing that wouldn't quite work for twins. =) At least we thought it to be clever at the time. We had the same little red mark next to our eye and tried to use that as evidence. With that twin thing, we just get such a kick out of the fact that we gave birth to our daughters within a week of eachother. Maybe these ones can be a little more convincing as being twin cousins. We got some pretty cute pics. Baby Doll sure has a bit more hair than our little Gidget, but our little one kinda has a bit more of everything else: belly, legs, cheeks, length. We put them in matching outfits. It was kinda funny that the 6 mo. outfit was more snug on Gidget than the 3 mo. outfit was on Baby Doll, eventhough she's the older one.

We had a fun time taking pics of our girls!

Instant buddies!

Same favorite pastime

You can see a bit of the size difference in this picture.

It is fun to finally be able to do these sorts of things. :)

Visit to the North Pole

This here is a message sent to my neices and nephews about our trip to the North Pole while I was visiting my mom last week. You'll have to see what they'll do with you up in the North Pole. After watching ours, you can have some of your own fun with it too...


Dear Grandkids of Grandma McKe,
Grandma McKe and I just made a trip up to the North Pole. I was sure it had been a few days, but turned out to only be a few hours! Time sure is interesting on Santa's clock. Well, the elves dressed us up, taught us a dance and then put us to work! Gidget was with us and I could tell she had a fun time watching. It is just too bad that she won't remember it! One of the elves was taking a video of us doing the dance, you definitely have to check it out!! http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=9550149067

Love, Aunt Dee Boo

Flippin' Out

In May 2006, David and I got started on our house flipping venture. After reading books and of course watching the many house flip shows we got hooked on the idea. We jumped in and got to work. We found the house, layed out our plans and budget, and started right in. Our goal was six weeks and we did it! I would be there from 9am to as late as 10pm as often as possible and David would come straight from work.

It sure paid off! These pictures don't quite do it justice, but it gives you an idea. If you click on them, you'll see them better.

Before & After

Paint, lighting, doors, baseboards, carpet...

New appliances, sink, flooring, lighting, refinished cabinets, back splash, granite countertops...
New toilet, completely new shower, cabinet, sink, walls, flooring, fancy shower head...

New wall, cleaned, sprinkler system, grass, foliage, fixed brick/cement, paint
New walls, painted, flooring, carpet, baseboards, lighting...

Fixed entries, paint, flooring, lights...

Ten days after we put the house on the market...SOLD! One of the best things about this one is that many of the houses on that street started to fix up their own and "taming" their yards. So awesome to see the value of the neighborhood rise with it. We had a fun time with those neighbors and they loved being apart of the remodeling.

Well, to congratulate ourselves we actually went and bought a boat a week later. Ahh! Gave our families a fun surprise. :) Sure helped David to get away from his work at the laundry (Brady Linen, 24 hour job) while there. Worth every drop of sweat, every scrape and scratch, and every penny.

So, next summer if you're feeling like coming to Vegas and going to the lake, then come and play! We need to be sure and get some good use out of the treat! We sure have so far. So come one, come all!

Baby Blessing

We had Gidget's baby blessing on my mom's birthday. Made it all the more memorable.

Gidget wore my blessing dress. Thanks to my mom for actually holding onto it for me. It was fun to see her in that and to think I had actually been that size before.

We had tons of fun together. We had a big group of family and some friends too. David had 5 siblings there and I had 5 of my siblings there too. The event brought back many thoughts of my dad. I'm glad to know that he could have stood in the circle too. While we played over the weekend, I brought out my dad's favorite cookies to have a bit of him there. :) If only Heather could have been there to make his favored oatmeal cookies. (sorry about the red-eye in the pic)

I'm sure my mom just loved our morning birthday surprise... We woke her up at 7am singing the BYU song (how she often woke us up for morning scripture study) and then set a breakfast on her lap that was NOT waffles, eggs and bacon. Instead we did oatmeal and some bread and milk. Of course I had a rose from our yard. We explained the breakfast by saying that she had told us over the many years that they were both so good for us and we had decided that we only wanted the BEST for her. She caught the love and humor in it all. Of course we invited her to have breakfast with the rest of the family if she didn't mind that it was dutch pancakes (Popeye pancakes as Mare's family refers to them). Family is fun!

All Aboooooaaarrrrrd!

Ok, Ok, I'll give in- I'll blog. I figured that if "Kipani" Booth did it then it was a good thing. We shall see. Didn't realize how behind the times I was. Not knowing where to start, I figure that when I have a moment to "post" then I will write about whatever is on my mind. Currently, of course, it's our baby. Bridgett! Mare n' Karl are using nicknames for their kids, so I figure I'll try that... therefore, she's Gidget! My sisters and I always wanted to be Gidget (that beach babe from the 50's). Nonnie said she is going to send our Gidget a swimsuit for every day of the summer.

Gidget is already 12 weeks old! As of August 2007, David and I can actually call ourselves parents! The whole pregnancy went great, in fact, my neurologists and OB-GYN said that I should always be pregnant... it certainly helped my health and brain! I'll need to think about it. I'll share a bit more on that in another post.

This little blessing came to us at 7 lbs. 14 oz. and 20.5 in. She has just been such a wonderful angel since. She loves to smile and is just really learning her sounds. She gets a kick out of our "conversations" and when I attack her belly. Her daddy got the first laugh out of her. Precious, and boy did it make his week! She melts him and it is clear that I am going to have to force a budget on his spending for her. ;)

As you may notice in pictures, Gidget has some CHEEKS. The nurses would even bring others in to see them through the ultrasound. It would be dangerous for her to enter a nursing home full of grandparents and their pinches! Sure does make her all the more loveable.

Sleep... something that David and I STILL get! (for now) WooHoo! She takes five 1.5-2 hour naps each day and then sleeps from 10:30-6:30 every night. I'm likin' it. She is quite mellow. She loves to look around, smile, hear music (loves Il Divo- Christmas), eat, and sleep. She doesn't cry too much, so far. When she does cry, though, it is evident that her lungs have certainly developed. She'll be a good singer. :)

Yes, so parenthood is treating us well. With Dave working mostly from home now (in real estate), we are both taking in as much as possible as parents. Being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, I sure am glad to know that families are forever and that life is beautiful.