Painting

Brandon and I painted on Monday and Tuesday. Ugh! What a thankless job. I had forgotten just how hot it gets at the top of the walls in the summertime. We painted most of the kitchen red (same color as the fireplace), the hallway tan (same as the living room and entry), and the new arch brown to match the rest of the family room. We also repainted all the baseboards (way to go Brandon!) and the entire inside of the new pantry. Everything looks so nice! However, my whole body hurts and I hope to never see another gallon of paint again!
Here are some pictures...

Kitchen Update

While Brandon and I were in Idaho over the weekend for his Grandma's funeral, the construction guys got busy! It is so exciting to see the kitchen start to look like what's in my head. Chad (our project manager) emailed us some pictures of the progress.

With the column gone.

With part of the drywall up.

Does't it look nice? I am so excited to have that stupid wall gone! Now I just need to figure out what to do with the carpet and tile. Any suggestions? This is where one of the kitchen windows used to be. Now we will have cabinets over the sink. They also installed a bunch of recessed lights in the kitchen. We could do surgery in the kitchen now, it's so bright!

They doubled the size of our pantry. I won't know what to do with so much space. It's all ready for me to paint starting tomorrow. Yippee!

The Writing on the Wall

Part of the kitchen remodel includes removing the half wall and column between the kitchen and family room. I decided to let the kids autograph it. They had a blast! They even let all their friends who came over this week add their own graffiti. But they also promised never, never, never to write on my walls again.

Let the demo begin!

Yeah! Today they finally started demolishing our kitchen! Workers showed up bright and early (6:30) to tear out the cabinets and countertops, then the tile guys came to start tearing out the tile. What a mess!

Before. Aren't those lovely pink countertops? So '80's!

One of the cabinet guys working. Hablo ingles?

With the cabinets gone, now the floor looks very pink. Ugh!

Now the floor is gone. Can't wait for the new stuff...

They tried to cover everything to keep the dust off, but it has managed to work it's way into everything. Who wants to come help me clean when this is done? Anyone? I'll treat at Sonic! :)

Thank Goodness for Air Conditioning

So yesterday, we were enjoying a little family time (okay Brandon and I were watching golf) and the power went out. We didn't think much of it, we occasionally get a short outage. When 20 minutes or so went by, we decided we better find some flashlights and candles in case it got dark before we had power back. It turns out that a transformer blew and left only about 7 houses without power on our street. Unfortunately, it was 110 yesterday and this happened just before 6:00. It was pretty darn hot! After a couple of hours, we managed to get the kids to bed (although Sam and Julia just couldn't understand why we couldn't plug in a fan because they were hot). We played a game with the older kids until it was too dark and too hot, then we sent them to bed. Brandon and I went outside, where it was still 100 degrees, but at least it wasn't as stuffy as inside. The power FINALLY came back on just after midnight. I've never been so thankful for air conditioning and fans! It makes me very grateful that I live now and not a hundred years ago. Brandon likes to point out that I would have died crossing the plains and I happily agree with him. There's no shame in enjoying some modern comforts. Here's to a nice, cool house!

Desert Dolphin for a Day

Julia officially tried synchro for the first time today (she has been pretending in our pool for 2 years). Olivia's team had a "Desert Dolphin for a Day" clinic, and Julia was finally old enough (almost) to participate. She was so excited to be a "synchro girl". She stuck close to Alex (one of Olivia's teammates) and had a great time. This is their little routine they learned today. How cute is that?

SIX

Sam is Six! Finally! Every day since Olivia's birthday, he has thought it was his. Actually we let him open his presents on Saturday (a day early) because he was getting a pool toy and we don't swim on Sunday, so we thought that would be a little mean. Silly Sam--he wanted a "mountain" cake (aka bundt cake). Unfortunately, the mountain had an earthquake (it stuck to the pan) and it was a little deformed. At least it still tasted good! Sam helped mix it all up--in fact, he got me up early in the morning by bringing in the recipe and then proceeding to gather all of the ingredients (mostly by running to my bed and showing me something: is this flour, mom?) I think he was a bit excited.

Presents are always fun.
Legos, legos, legos. What more could a boy ask for? He got a bunch, both from Grandma Anne and from Mom and Dad. He also got some water gun boats for the pool (see video below) and some money from Grandma Ekberg. He had a grand time at Toys R Us spending his money. Happy Birthday Sam!

Gilbert Temple

A couple of you have asked about the new Gilbert Temple. It will be 7 miles from our house, across the freeway from the Costco I shop at. It's also across the street from a really cool park. Right now it is just farmland, but we can't wait until it starts to look like a temple. How exciting for our kids to see one built right around the corner. What a blessing.

Scrap Happy

So, my sister Allison came down for a visit last weekend. Thank you, thank you, thank you to her husband, Thao, for giving up his weekend with her so she could spend it with me. And thank you, thank you, thank you to my husband, Brandon, for giving up one of his frequent flier tickets so she could come. We had a great time! The whole point of the weekend was to catch up on our scrapbooking. We didn't quite accomplish that, but we made a good dent. Ali says she got 66 pages done and I got 51 pages done. It still doesn't even make a dent in what we have left to do, but it was lots of fun! It was so nice to spend quality sister time together without kids (almost--but I did a good job of ignoring mine). Now, when can we do it again? Thao, Brandon, how soon is too soon?!? Next weekend?!?

It's all about Olivia

It's not really all about Olivia, it just feels like it. However, I did want to put videos of her routines from this year on so you could all see what she has spent her free time doing. This is her solo. She finished 2nd in the Region (Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico). She is too young to go to Nationals as a solo, so this was her last swim of the season with this routine.

Hercules Team

This is Olivia's team routine. She is the youngest on the team by far...most of the girls are 13 and 14. We can't wait for National Competition next month in New York. Good job, girls!

Olivia's Duet

Video of Olivia's duet, which just missed qualifying for Nationals by .050 points (stinking judges :))

Double Digits

Olivia FINALLY reached double digits yesterday. She has been waiting for so long--ten years! We can tell she is growing up by what she wanted for her birthday, not a single toy in sight. We ended up giving her some coupons good for shopping (somehow I don't think she would necessarily like what I would pick). After a hard mornings work at synchro (four hours of practice), Mom and Olivia had a great time at the mall and a few other stores. I think she told every salesperson that it was her birthday, but it paid off in the end--we got a 15% discount at Justice! Happy Birthday Olivia! Everyone loves you and we hope that you will always be the nice sweet girl that you are now.

Graduation Girl

Julia graduated from Preschool last week. She is so excited to be going to kindergarten in the fall (so is mom :) ) The class sang some songs and rhymes for us, but the best part was when Mrs. Page asked each kid what they wanted to be when they grow up. There were a lot of zoo keepers, a doctor, a mom, a fireman and a policeman. Julia wants to be... a MERMAID! She is such a cutie, and wanting to be a mermaid is just like her. Dream big, sweetie!

sam the man

Sam and Dan in the car.

sam's mad face in Disneyland
sam

(This blog entry was created by Sam - with a little help from Mom)

One Year Older

So, Brandon had another birthday. Julia wrapped her present for Dad (a 12 pack of Coke) all by herself. I'm not sure she put quite enough bows on top. Brandon's wife was a bad wife that day and didn't make him a cake, so he had to settle for Krispy Kreme doughnuts with candles. Hey, the kids were excited...Krispy Kreme re-opened two days earlier and they were excited to finally get their doughnut fixed filled. Anyway, Happy Birthday to the most wonderful man in the world! I love you!

Check out the smile!

Olivia had a momentus day on May 15. Not only was it Dad's birthday, but she finally got her braces off! Wow, what a difference! Check out the before and after pictures!

Mom's Day

So yesterday was Mother's Day...the most dreaded day of the year. Actually, it wasn't too bad. I knew there was no way that I would be blessed with peaceful, obedient and quiet children, so I didn't even hope for it. Brandon didn't have early meetings before church, so he helped get the kids ready (very nice, since usually it's tough to just get to 8:00 church with everyone dressed, let alone fed and hair brushed). Church wasn't too bad, I had Sam and Julia sitting on me, but they didn't fight over me, so another bonus! Primary was good, too. No disasters and lots of men willing to help fill holes for me--I especially loved that the 2nd Counselor in the Stake Presidency filled in for me in Nursery. After church, the kids mostly got along (remember, no perfection expected). I told them that what I really wanted was to be able to scrapbook, and amazingly, I actually got some scrapbooking done yesterday! I also managed to help Dan with some homework projects, call my mom, make dinner (Brandon offered, I declined), play checkers with Sam, play "Scrambled States of America" with Olivia, snuggle with Julia, sit outside in the nice weather, and watch a movie after the kids went to bed. All in all, a really nice Mother's Day. And, yes, I really am grateful to be a mother. I love my children, I'm learning to love the challenges that I have because of them, and I know that I'm growing as a person because of those beautiful, talented, rambunctious, energetic and noisy children.

Chocolate...

I happened upon this post on a friend's blog and I really liked it. It just goes to show that great minds think alike...
http://tkbowmanfamily.blogspot.com/2008/03/justification.html

Long Live the President!

Dan decided that it would be cool to run for Student Body President of his school for next year. Since we all know it's a popularity contest, I was a little worried. Not that I don't think he's popular, but I wasn't sure I wanted to deal with the fallout when he didn't win. Little did I know! Apparently, he IS pretty popular and he WON! For his skit/speech, he decided to hold a Jedi Council, and tell everyone why he would make a great president. Unfortunately, a few Sith spies made their way into the room and tried to challenge him for the post. The first spy, let's call him "Kevin", ended up being wounded by our fabulous Jedi Master, but then the second spy, let's call her "Olivia", tried to prove her superiority by doing the splits (to many groans in the audience). In the end, the "outgoing, straight A student" saved the day and ended up victorious! Way to go, Dan!

Olivia's Duet

This is a really bad video of Olivia's duet that qualified for Regionals. Her partner is Kaylee and they learned this routine in less than two weeks. They were awesome! Of course, the best part was their really cool swimsuits :) I wonder where they got them???

District Honor Orchestra

Dan auditioned for Gilbert School District's Honor Orchestra in March. The Honor Orchestra is made up of the best 5th and 6th grade musicians in the whole district. Dan was one of seven bass players to be chosen, and the only 5th grader. Additionally, he was the only 5th grade strings player from his school to be chosen. We are so proud of him! He has done a great job practicing and really seems to have a natural ability. They had their performance on Saturday, April 5th. I took this video at the dress rehearsal, because I wasn't able to tape the final performance. The song they are playing is called "Fanfare for a Hero" and I think they sound awesome (especially for 10-12 year olds!) They played four songs, but this one was my favorite. Great job Dan!

Arizona State Championships

 
 
 
 
This last weekend, Olivia competed in the Arizona State Championships in Tucson. She did awesome! She placed second in figures in the 9-10 age group, second in solo in 9-10, second in duet in 11-12 and third in team in the 13-15 age group. All of her routines qualified for Regional competition next month. Hopefully, she will qualify for Nationals after that. We are so proud of her!

Family photos

Family pictures taken last October. Gotta love the warm weather!

Disneyland 2/2008

Here's a slideshow of some of our trip to Disneyland in February.

crazius allthetimeus

I'm an engineer!

Synch or Swim

This past summer, Olivia participated in Mesa Parks and Rec Synchronized Swimming. Amazingly, she did really well. The first part of the summer was spent learning "figures", or certain movements in the water. In her weekly meets, she took second place twice and first place twice! Then at the Figure Championships, where the entire city competed together, she didn't do her best. She completely messed up one of the four figures, but she still managed to place 6th out of about 25-30 girls in her age group!
After figure championships, she then competed in the trio and team competition. She was in a trio with her friend Paige and another girl named Alexxis. They performed a 2 minute routine to Jump 5's "Spinnin' Around". They did really well, although they weren't quite synchronized, and they took 2nd place in the 9-10 age group (Paige is 9) out of 4 teams. Olivia's team of 5 girls did alright, although they struggled with one girl that didn't seem to want to practice. Overall, they took 8th out of 11. Olivia really liked that routine because she got to be lifted out of the water by the other girls. It was pretty cool.
Overall, it was a fun summer and Olivia did a great job! She can't wait for synchro to start again!

Gerbils

The Ekberg kids got new gerbils on Dec. 26 2005. They are so cute and furry. Their names are Annie and Fuzmo. By Dan