Tape, Tape and MORE Tape!!!

Sorry for the lack of posting. We have been a little busy over at the house trying to get it ready for paint. I knew that it would be a big task to tape everything off and that we would use a lot of tape, but seriously it got a little ridiculous. One day I made FIVE trips to Lowe's to buy tape and other such things. We ended up needing more plastic to cover the floors too. Well this last weekend Ryan's Mom and Step-dad came and helped us get everything taped, papered and ready for paint because on Monday (4/21) my Dad was coming to spray the entire interior with our base coat. We even had his Aunt, Uncle and Cousin come on Saturday night for reinforcement help to get it done. We couldn't have done it without them, boy are we lucky to have helpful family!! So here are some before pics of the ready house and all our busy bees at work. Thanks again guys! Margaret attacking the small windows in the office.
This is going to be Ayden's room. Pepto pink is what we call it. We had to prime this room as well before my dad could paint it. Ayden wants a blue room, thank heaven's. I wouldn't even want this color for my girls!!
Beth, Brian and Amy!! Our reinforcement for laying down plastic!! Thanks guys-
Busy taping the kitchen off before all the plastic got layed over the cabinets.
With a weekend full of work done, the house was ready to paint first thing Monday morning. 20 gallons of paint and about 4 hours later the entire house was painted and so was my dad!! We really couldn't have done it with out our family's help. Meysa was excited about the un-taping party that we had after touch ups were done. It always takes a billion times longer to put it all up than it does to take it all down. I would much rather have an un-taping party than a taping party. Now on to painting the accent walls! I'll post more pics later of all that fun!!

Dreams Really Do Come True!!

Meysa's little 4 year old life is complete now. If any of you know Meysa you know that she LOVES horses. At least once a week she informs us that she wants a horse and asks how she can get the thousand dollars it takes to buy one(not sure where she got that figure but it sounds like a lot to her). She eats, sleeps and dreams of horses. Well lucky for her we know someone who has horses. Our wonderful realtor, Tracy, not only found us a good house and is a family friend she also fulfilled Meysa's dream of riding a horse. Yesterday was a rare day in Western Washington with not a cloud in the sky. So we headed over to Tracy's house to check out her two horses. Meysa was beyond excited and really so was the rest of the family. Could you see a bigger smile, oh yes you can. Just wait for the picture of her ON the horse.
We were proud of Ayden, he actually got inside the gate with us, but when Harley (brown horse) got a little too close for Ayden's comfort level(nose to nose), he excused himself to the other side of the fence.

Very excited kids. Lauryn flipped out when we tried to leave her out of the pen, she wasn't going to be left behind.
Meysa meeting Sossie for the first time. Meysa is probably thinking "This is what heaven must be like"

Oh, no... this is what heaven must be like. She got to ride around in a circle and with the first step she wasn't so sure, but wasn't scared after that. She was grinning and laughing. It was a good day. Of course a real cowgirl has to have her boots(even bright pink ones), oh how she loves those things.
Like I said Lauryn was not going to be left out. She kept saying, "ride horsey, ride horsey". So up on Sossie she went and she was pretty happy about it too. I think big sisters love of horses is rubbing off on Lauryn. What a great day it was for everyone.

Spring Break

We spent our Spring Break in Redmond, OR. Ryan's Dad gave us a week of time share to use and we sure enjoyed it. We stayed in a little condo right on the golf course. Ryan's Mom and Step Dad came over for a few days and they were alot of fun. The kids loved having a little extra attention. There were heated indoor pools that we went to everyday. We did wake up to two inches of snow one morning and decided to go to a museum to stay inside. There were some fun pics there but they are on the internal memory of our camera and I don't know how to get them off. So when I figure that out I will post them. Monday was probably our nicest day for weather so we decided to go out for a stroll. Ryan had the girls in the trailer and they promptly fell asleep (which they desperately needed).

I don't have the after shot of them both sacked out, but it was pretty cute!!
Ayden on his speed racer, he was the leader for most of the time. He loved it.
Well, Margaret and myself decided we would try this duce coupe thing. It looked like fun, and it was but holy cow a killer on the legs. I didn't post the most embarrassing pictures of us (really just myself looking like a dork) trying to peddle up a hill. Greg is in the background on the Bullet, he had to push us from behind on a few hills. I think part of the problem was we were laughing so hard we couldn't peddle. Lots of fun and some good exercise!!
It was a good Spring Break and a well needed vacation for Ryan. Now it is back to the grindstone for all of us. We have work on the house to do and Ryan is back to work tomorrow!! It doesn't ever slow down I guess.

Cardinals vs. Red Sox

Ayden had his first game of the season last Saturday. It was the start of the season for the whole league and they had opening ceremonies and had all the teams file on to the field. Ayden looks pretty happy to be there. I was suprised at how BIG LEAGUE some of these teams were. They had sweatshirts with their names embroidered on them, the coaches in full team warm-ups. While our team would have liked to have had sweatshirts (it was cold), some teams were a little over the top. But why not have fun I guess.
This is Ayden first at bat, he struck out this time up but got on base his last two at bats. He was pretty fun to watch run around the bases. The batting helmet he was wearing was too big and he could hardly keep it on.

Ayden is watching his first base coach for the go-ahead. While the Cardinals didn't win, they had a good time playing. It is very low key and I think the kids all had fun. Let the games begin!!

Our New Home

We finally bought a house and we are really excited to be homeowners. The home was a foreclosure (got a good deal) and it needs a little TLC to get it looking good on the inside. We have to patch, paint, switch out some things like a kitchen sink and bathroom fixtures, and buy a refrigerator. Oh yeah and we need to clean alot. The people that lived there were gross. Thank heavens for Clorox and carpet cleaners. But it is in the same subdivision that we have been living in so Ayden doesn't have to change schools and we don't have to change wards. I may do some before and afters, so you can see all the work we GET to do!! Wow three posts in one day, I think I better slow down before I hurt myself!!