Enjoy the view!

Apparently we're crazy.

I believe all our family will agree.

You see, we decided to paint the exterior of our house on our own- not hire someone to do it.

Thus the whole family was coerced into slave labor to help us accomplish our crazy goal!

So after 5 days of intense physical labor, our tired old sad house looks beautiful fresh clean and young again!

We still have little details to finish(shutters and stuff) but the main event is over.

We feel an incredible debt of gratitude to our families, we can never thank you all enough.

I'll let the pics do the rest of the talking.

Before...

After...

Tag you're it

Blogging has become one of those things I think about doing and never get around to doing.

So I'm trying to make up for it by posting.

The highlights:

I turned 25 in June.

Patrick is now 7 months old

We went to lagoon with Chad's work. It was fun, hot... Camilla loved it and went on a few rides on her own and with Chad and the merry-go-round with me.

Chad had an ER visit following a bike crash. His right hip and hand were really torn up but otherwise he was mostly fine(road burn on his left hand and chest). He got 7 stitches to fix up his hand.

2 weeks after his crash Chad joined his work team to win a bike race from here to sin city!

2 of my sisters-in-law, Patrick and I went to pick him up when he finished, it was a fun quick trip to break up the normality of our summer.

Patrick has cut his first tooth, a second to follow shortly. He says Dadadad and rolls to get where he wants to go. He's a solid guy, not chubby or rolly but definitely big. He's also just about the most adorable thing out there; when he gets excited, his whole body starts movin, and I just cant help but want to grab him and kiss him all over all day long!

Camilla is constantly making us laugh with her adorable phrases; "Hey guys, check this out!""I hold you me?" She's doing well with potty training at the moment, knock on wood! She loves the free play set we found in our neighborhood in June. It has a tramp, see-saw,2 swings, and a slide.

We are loving watching the Olympics and mourn its end tomorrow. What an amazing event our world joins together to create! I am always impressed with the countries that are represented and of course by the athletes themselves- what they're capable of is truly remarkable. Isnt it crazy that records are made and broken every year? When do we ever meet our full potential?

Swimming has been a joy in this heat! Camilla started "swimming" to Chad on her own. She jumps off the kid's step and floats(maybe with a couple kicks) to him while holding her breath. Its so fun to watch her be so comfortable in the water! Her backfloats are hit-and-miss still but she loves the water so much that I really have no worries about how she'll progress skill wise. Patrick just kicks and splashes the second his toes hit the water! He loves the water too. Yay for water babies!

We plan to paint the outside of our house this weekend! The yellow will retire and green will replace it! The trim will be refreshed and we'll darken up the door and shutters! I think it's gonna feel and look like a bran new house, I certainly hope it does. I'm kinda tired of looking like the sore thumb on our street.

Now for the pics

yummy peaches!

hail the conquering heroall clean!
wahoo for amusement parks!

A Fun Evening

Tonight we went to the grand opening of our Millcreek Community Center! It is amazing! The floor plan is open and fun. I loved the library, of course, and the toddler section is perfect. I cant wait to take Camilla over for storytimes and this fun reptile touch&hold activity at the end of the month! I am just feeling so blessed to have such an awesome community center just down the street! And no more having to drive over to the holliday library!

Out of Office

Blogging's been on the back burner for quite a while, so let me try to catch you up on our adventures.

In March Camilla turned 2, Chad turned 29 and we rejoiced in our 5th year of marriage! We had wonderful get togethers and celebrations for each event. Chad even stayed home from work the friday before our anniversary, which was absolutely fabulous!

Something not quite so fabulous but which I still enjoyed( this will sound funny) was that Chad stayed home from work yesterday, because he was sick. I love having him here with me even if really all he's doing is resting in bed. It's just so nice to be all together. Apparently Chad got his bug from Camilla who was sick a few days before. Hopefully the spreading stops there...

Patrick is now 3months old and feels and seems bigger everyday. So far he's a pretty solid little guy, no tank by any means but he holds his own when Camilla's trying to pick him up. Last measure = he's more than half the weight of Camilla and almost half of Mobi! He is still such a smiley little guy and one of our favorite things about his grins is the grin he gives when he gets what he wants- he will lie in his bed talking and when your face comes into view he gives this grin like, Ha you heard me and I got you to come get me! I also love when he pushes his blankets up past his nose, and then when you pull them down to take a peak, he grins!

We loved conference weekend! My sister and I agreed that its like a stay-cation with more than just relaxation benefits! I loved having the words of the prophets penetrating my mind and heart all weekend and letting the glorious music uplift my soul ( Anytime the Tab Choir sings Come Thou Font, I feel like the angels sing along and every soul listening as well).

I so didnt want it to end! When the last session was coming to a close I felt so disappointed! I loved so many of the messages shared and learned so many good things. I needed the reminders to have a good attitude and depend on the Lord. I feel strengthened and renewed and still am trying to apply the things that I heard that I know I need to do better.

It snowed today! I love snow, really I do, but I was getting used to being warm and I truly miss it.

Yesterday I tried something, something that I thought I'd never voluntarily do after playing soccer at age 8.

I ran.

I thought that it'd be a good experiment and so with Chad home yesterday, I put Camilla in the stroller, let Mobi emerge from the back yard and we walked up our street then ran down it. At the time it felt good and even all evening I didnt regret it. Today's a different story, every ache I have, I'm blaming on it. My back, right hip, right knee and calf are all mad at me. and I cant blame them,

Running?

What was I thinking?

love yall!