The Reeder's

It has been awhile......

2010-10-17T19:47:00.000-07:00

I guess time flies when you are busy.... School started since I last posted and here are our cute girls ready to go on their first day. I love having them all with me all day (Maddie is in all day kindergarten). They all love school, have great teachers, and work really hard to do well.
Around the house we have made some progress since the end of August.... slow, but steady right??? We are getting sick of always working on the house, but it is starting to pay off. I have a working kitchen - it is not all finished, but it works and we can cook. It was starting to get cold in the mornings having to get our cereal outside so we were all grateful for the chance to stay inside to get our milk, and it is really nice using real dishes and not plastic and paper for everything! The small things...Here is the picture of my hood above my range. Yes, it is blue and I love the way it turned out. You can kind of see in the corners of the pictures the cream which is the rest of my cabinets color. They don't have doors or shelves yet, but they will be soon (at least the shelves!)

My double ovens that work.... I have had lots of people come in and laugh that I have two ovens, I'm not really known for my cooking abilities and don't use one oven very often, but there are two reasons - 1. the looks and 2. I am having Thanksgiving at my house this year so I'm am sure I will use both of them on Thanksgiving and Christmas!

We have an island in the middle of the kitchen and Ryan built the countertop out of cherry. I love having the island and I like the look that cherry gave the kitchen with all of my painted cabinets. I'll have to take some pictures a little farther out now so the full effect can be seen.

And this last weekend was fall break for us so we had 2 days off school. We had planned to go to Vernal for the weekend, but ended up just working on the house all weekend. We painted all of the moldings on the main floor (pain) and then moved our bed upstairs into our bedroom, moved some furniture out of my sisters shed into the house, I painted the piano black, and then the girls and I got a few decorations out. We still have quite a ways to go, but the house is liveable now and we can be upstairs - I was starting to feel claustraphobic in the basement!!! Here is our living room with a little bit of furniture - nothing on the walls yet - but that will come. You can still see all the dust on the furniture. My niece Whitney and I washed our wood floors 4 times in one day (Friday) and I woke up on Saturday and they were dusty again..... it will take awhile to get rid of all the dust.

Now it is on to the bathrooms upstairs and back to the outside to get it finished up before winter sets in.

The Red Farm House

2010-08-22T19:48:00.000-07:00

I have always described this house as the little red brick house on Ryan's parents' farm and I wanted to keep it as a red house so we painted the siding red. I love the color and how it looks. We saw a house in North Ogden that was a great red color (red is kind of scary to pick out sometimes) and Alan Smith jumped out of the car and asked the owners what color they used. They were very nice and even went and got the paint bucket so I could right down exactly the color and paint formula. As you can tell the entire house is not finished, but we decided to paint as we go along so that it isn't quite as overwhelming of a job to paint the entire exterior of the house.
Sheetrock is all finished and the inside is starting to look like a house again. I painted the ceilings while Ryan was at scout camp - I rolled it all and my arm was killing my by the time I finished - Ryan got home about 20 minutes later. Pretty good timing on his part! Then we spent the next couple of days and have all the walls finished up. We just have a few touch ups left to do. I was going to do a bunch of fun different colors, but ended up just getting it all painted and I'll go back after we get moved in and make it more interesting. We were able to even uncover the piano this week. Morgan has been practicing up at my work because it was such a hassle getting to our piano.
The concrete is finished - Yeah - I have even been parking in the garage the last few nights! Above is the walkway to the back basement patio with stairs that go back up to the back yard. Our deck stairs will come to that landing as well. Below is the driveway. The girls have been loving it. They have been riding their bikes everyday. We have never had a driveway that they could ride on. In Perry it was way to steep, and this one was small before so they are getting good use of all the concrete!
Yesterday we started the wood floors. This is the west wall of the big room, we probably got about half of the room finished. Morgan was walking around saying, "it is so nice to have a smooth floor", kind of sad when your kids have to walk around holes in your floor and always wear shoes if they are inside! We will hopefully get the floors finished up this week. Ryan is kind of pulled in different directions at this point because everything that needs to be done he has to do it, the siding, the floors, and mainly the kitchen. So we just kind of hop back and forth between each of them and decided that everything is progress. Our goal is to have a working kitchen by October 1st (Morgan's b-day)! Hopefully that works!!

Progress Today

2010-07-29T21:14:00.001-07:00

I told Ryan this evening that today has been the first time in quite awhile that I have been semi excited about the house. It has gotten a little overwhelming and just plain old the last few weeks - which is probably why I haven't posted any pictures. You can only be so excited about constant messes and dust. But today we had some fun progress....the first wall of siding went up. Yes it is the smallest wall with siding, but it was at least started!

The cement guys showed up and they will be pouring the back patio and stairs in the morning. I have been the most anxious for our cement to go in... I am hoping it will at least help to clean up the look of the outside of the house.
This is just a picture of the first piece of siding going up... I was excited! Ryan thought I was dumb! The sheetrock was also stocked today so the sheetrockers will be here in the morning to get started on that. The last of the really dusty things to do. I am excited for tomorrow!
And then just to add to the busy-ness around here I decided to take a new job last week. I will now be teaching 2nd grade this coming school year. I am excited, but have a ton of work to do between now and August 28th!

The House

2010-07-29T20:59:00.001-07:00

The wall between the old and the new coming down. This was probably the worst day of this whole adventure so far... it was beyond dirty and dusty. Ryan and I were both black from the mortar on the bricks and all the dust. It took 4 trailor loads to the dump just to get rid of all the stuff we ripped out. I don't think I have ever been as tired as I was at the end of this day.
This is our current living area in the basement. We have a blanket hung at the bottom of the stairs to try to keep some of the dust out and we have one chair and two camp chairs that fit in the space. Ryan eventually pulled out his foam mat he uses for camping so he can lay down sometimes to watch tv. We were able to finally get the thermostat for the air conditioner temporarily moved into the basement so that we can use the air conditioner - it got a little warm for awhile.
This is standing at our front door looking straight back. The opening to the right has been framed in for our bedroom that will be on the other side of that wall. Morgan has to uncover the piano to do her practicing - she gets annoyed each day when I remind her to practice.
This is standing by the back wall of the addition looking towards the front of the house.
Our kitchen will be in that back corner. The walls were all insulated this last Tuesday. Those are my ovens sitting in the middle of the floor - We have had them for a year now just moving closer and closer to where they will be permanently!

A Few Fun July Activities

2010-07-29T20:46:00.000-07:00

The Stewart family went to Island Park together for 3 days in July and we had a great time. It has been awhile since we have been able to do this and I'm glad we were able to get together. We went fishing one morning and actually caught a few fish. Ryan caught one and Morgan caught two. She was so excited.
While playing in the River by Mack's Inn. Ryan and the girls in the kayak. The were actually pretty good at cruzin around!
The whole family (minus Kathy - she wasn't able to come) at Mesa Falls. It was a beautiful waterfall.
A bunch of little girls trying to raft. They pretty much just turned in circles. Between my sisters and I we have 10 girls from 9 years old and down and only one 6 year old boy....He is a really good sport to hang out with all the girls!
The 6 year old's plus one 8 year old

2010-07-29T20:26:00.000-07:00

We had bought a bunch of plastic while our roof was off the house incase it started raining and we decided to turn it into a slip and slide in the backyard on one of the hot afternoons. The girls had a blast and played for hours - I'm afraid it wasn't to kind to the lawn....
Here is Maddie with her new "ruffle pants" I think these are my favorite project I made for the girls this summer.
Fourth of July activities at Grandma's house. We watched the parade and then walked down to the Perry Park to play all the games. Here all the little cousins after the parade!
Our kitchen was taken out on July 3rd so since then - this is what I have been cooking on.. a grill and a camp chef. We have them out on our new back deck along with our fridge, freezer, a table for the toaster and all the paper products, and our table to eat. It has been quite the adventure. I can't say we have had very many good meals - but we are not starving. I have to admit it is getting a little old. We are going on one month without a kitchen and I'm guessing it will be at least one more....

It's been awhile.....

2010-07-18T13:43:00.000-07:00

I realize it has been awhile since I posted and I have lots of pictures - but we have been under a little construction around here and things aren't quite as convenent as they usually are.

My kitchen came out just over two weeks ago, I now have my "kitchen" on our back (unfinished) deck. It consists of our microwave on a table, our camp chef, our grill, a box with some food in it and lots of paper goods. The fridge is still plugged in in the front of the house so we at least can use it. If I need water I have to use the outside spicket, and I try to use as few dishes as possible that have to be washed. If I do have to wash any dishes, my sweet sister in law lets me come next door and use her sink. I never realized how often you use a kitchen sink. I also really miss my kitchen counter - I have no where to walk in and put anything down...old habits are hard to break. Maybe after this I will not have a pile of stuff on my counter.

This last week the wall between the old and the new came down. It was a very long day and Ryan and I were both wondering what we were thinking when we decided to do this. Everything is dirty and dusty and not easy to get around. But we got through the week and we think we are on the downhill side of the project. So this is where we are....

* Roof is at a manageable amount to finish up - love the shape of it and the color!
* We are living in the basement - a little cozy, but we love each other right!!
* Exterior cement should go in this week - I am very excited for this to help clean up the outside a bit.
* Plumbers, electricians, and HVAC should all finish up this week.
* The framer (Ryan) should finish this week also

It is all starting to take shape and I am so excited to put everything back together! I'll post pictures as soon as I figure out how!

2010-06-30T09:26:00.000-07:00

Ryan has been working on the roof (as well as his regular job) for the past week and it is finally just about there. He is picking up the felt paper and ordering the shingles as I sit here and type! I will be glad to have a leak proof roof over our head again. Here are a few pictures of the last week.
Injury #2 happened as they were working on this side of the roof. Ryan's brother, Dale caught his leg on one of the metal plates on the trusses and ended up with stitches. And according to our niece Hallie - "that is going to cost him a butt load of money!" We laughed at that!

The back of the house. I am so excited for the deck. I think I will spend a lot of time there! I just need a rocking chair to put up there!

What our house looks like as of right now. I love the shape of the roof and am excited to get the shingles on there!

The next step in the process is gutting the upstairs. This past week I have just about moved everything out of the upstairs. We are sleeping in one bedroom downstairs and the girls are in the other. I have sold my dishwasher and stove and they will both be picked up on Friday, and I also sold my kitchen cabinets and they will be picked up on Saturday morning. So as of Saturday I no longer have a kitchen. I have stocked up on paper goods and cereal and will have to get creative with our grill. Ryan says about 1 1/2 months - but I am prepping myself for about 2 months before we are up and running again. We have also been without a air conditioner which I hate - I am one who never turns my air conditioner off and I love to be able to walk into my house and be cold - so needless to say it has been a little warm around here the last little bit. But we should be able to hook the air conditioner back up soon. One exciting note - I bought myself a new serger/sewing machine with the money from the cabinets and appliances - Ryan was going to just throw them all in the dumpster so I figured I would buy something fun with them!

Trusses and Rain...

2010-06-22T20:24:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning about 5;30 a.m. because the wind was blowing quite hard and looked out my window to see dark clouds to the west... normally I would have just rolled over and gone back to sleep, but when all I have is a layer of sheetrock between me and the great outdoors, I started to panic just a little. The clouds continued to get closer, until about 8:15 when it started to rain - hard - but luckily it only lasted for a few minutes and the inside of my house was spared... the crane arrived soon and the guys got to work.

This is the first truss going up

The next group of trusses going up.

At that point I took off and went to the Dinosaur Park with my sisters and had a great time!

And returned just in time to see the last few trusses go on. It is starting to come together and it looks great!

One funny comment from today, Ian, my 6 year old nephew was watching Ryan quite a bit today and following him around a little and after awhile told Ryan, "You have an awesome job, I'm going to call you my working uncle." We love having Ian in town, he is always making us laugh!

2010-06-19T15:20:00.000-07:00

We had a ton of help come this morning and by noon we had...

a finished product....or I guess we should say an unfinished product.
I was pretty excited that we had no broken windows and only one little tiny hole in my ceiling inside. Now to get a roof back on.....

It Started...

2010-06-19T04:13:00.000-07:00

This is our house as of 5:15 on Friday evening....

Ryan and Alan decided to get a start on the roof - Ryan's leg fell through some of the old boards on the roof - our first ingury.

This was the roof after about an hour of work. Insulation was flying and to be honest with you it makes me a little nervous. We will see what today brings. There is quite the crew of family coming and I am sure it won't take them long to get it all off. One of my friends asked if we were still living here and the answer is yes! We are trying to stick it out as long as possible. So far the inside hasn't changed to much so that is when it will get hard to live in I am sure!

2010-06-14T15:19:00.000-07:00

An update on the house.... before we left for SC Ryan got the garage floor poured. I need to flip this picture - but thought Ryan was looking pretty good in his rubber boots and shorts!

Finishing up the garage floor!

What will be our back deck and covered patio underneath.

What the view will be out my kitchen window(minus the construction debris) - I love it!

And now what the view out my front door is - our trusses for the roof were dropped on the front yard this morning. Ryan is planning on taking the roof off our house this weekend as long as the weather cooperates and hopefully all of these will go back on quickly without any rain inbetween! Wish us luck!!

Charleston, South Carolina

2010-06-14T14:54:00.000-07:00

We always love the last day of school around here and this year we were even more excited because we left the next morning at 6 a.m. for Charleston, South Carolina. A lot of Ryan's family went and we had a great time. The last time we went we had a 1 year old and a 2 year old so this time the traveling was so easy! We took a ton of pictures but here are a few of the highlights. Here are the three girls crabbing. Ryan's cousin, Raymond, took Morgan the last time we were there and that was her favorite thing about the trip. This time all three girls were able to catch a crab. You throw raw chicken out into the tide pools and grab the crab with a net when you feel them tugging. As we were walking to the crabbing spot the girls found full sand dollars along the beach - they were pretty excited about that as well.
All of us in front of the pineapple fountain in the Waterfront Park in downtown. This day we walked around downtown, went to the Market, walked along the Battery, saw Rainbow Row, and played in the water fountain for a few hours!

Went to Patriots Point and toured the aircraft carrier and a submarine. I would not handle working on a submarine.... We also went to Fort Moultrie from the Revolutionary War and a lighthouse.

This is a picture of Ryan at Charles Towne Landing (were the very first settlers came). It was a beautiful place, but had these signs all over. I thought they were a joke at first ...Ryan assured they were not a joke. Luckily we never met an alligator, just lots of turtles. We also went to the Aquarium (I forgot my camera that day). It was fun - we always love aquariums.

The rest of the week was spent on the beach. Ryan's mom got a condo and beach house for all of us to stay in. We had such a great time and love the ocean. The girls had a great time playing in the sand and the water, walking out onto the pier, and shopping on Folly Beach. We were sad to come home. Maddie's Birthday was yesterday and we were traveling all day so I had one present for her to open before we left (the outfit and crown) that she got to wear all day as we were in airports and airplanes. It was fun because she got so much attention! She was really, really shy, but kept the crown on so we figure she liked it! We have a hard time believing that she is five!!

2010-05-30T13:51:00.000-07:00

The first wall up!! This is the part that is exciting to me because I can start seeing how it will come together! Dale and Alan (Ryan's brothers) spent the day with him helping and they called the Mecham boys in for lifting support a couple times!

We took the screen out of our bedroom window to make easier access to the addition for the girls otherwise they were climbing a ladder with quite a drop off to the side. They spent all evening playing store through the window last night!

The end of the day - The three outside walls are up!

2010-05-29T06:53:00.000-07:00

Last weekend the basement walls went up! You can see some of the windows we put in and they will all be daylight. I love lots of windows!

Then during the week they got the floor on and today they (Ryan and Alan) are working on the main floor walls and the deck. Ryan is working on the house all day today and Monday so there should be lots more to show by next week! I am starting to get excited!
On other notes we are to the last week of school! This is always a time I look forward to! Maddie finished preschool this last week with a class fishing trip. Ryan took her and she caught the first fish in her class. She was pretty excited to bag up her fish and bring home her fish home for mom "because she is the only one that likes fish". I pulled some salmon out of the freezer, cooked it up and ate it while her poor little fish got buried in the bottom of our garbage! Thanks Maddie!!

Maddie had her preschool graduation. She did a great job! I am so excited to have her in Kindergarten and all of my girls with me at school next year. One of the major perks of my job (along with the three summer months off!)

Morgan had her program for Mrs. John's third grade class. She has loved school this year and is sad to move on. She and Hallie have been in the same class since Kindergarten and will not be in the same school next year so I thought we needed a picture of them with one of their favorite teachers!

The Last Week

2010-05-19T19:20:00.000-07:00

The best part of the week was Kimber and Erik's wedding! We had a great time spending all day with them on Saturday for the wedding and the reception. We always love it when they come into town. Here is all of the Montoya family, obviously not looking at our camera!

Our cute girls on Temple Square. It was beautiful there with all of the spring flowers.

The foundation was poured on Monday of this week, they pulled the forms off on Monday night, the plumber came on Tuesday and the foundation was sprayed on Tuesday as well!

Today the backfill was started - which helps me a ton to figure out how the house is actually going to look. We also had our sewer pipe replaced today. Ryan came home for lunch with Ashlyn and was outside talking to the guys working on the sewer, Ashlyn went inside and used the bathroom not knowing what they were working on - well the guys got a little surprise outside....Sorry!

The part closest to the camera is going to be an outside patio off the basement, and the tall wall is the back of the garage. Just incase you cared!!!

Footings

2010-05-12T05:50:00.001-07:00

It has been raining a lot and our house is slightly leaking where the carport was taken off so this was my inovative way to catch the water while Ryan was working - duct tape a picture to the window and wall!

The pump truck going over the house to get the cement to the footings. The girls thought this was pretty neat.

The footings are done. Even thought it rained pretty much all day, Ryan got them poured and all the forms off! Yeah - the foundation should be started today!

2010-05-05T20:32:00.000-07:00

How the yard looked on Saturday - a bunch of trenches to replace the water

and sewer lines into the house. (This is picture is taken from the back door)

On Monday - 3 loads of gravel were brought in to fill up the old septic tank

(you can see the kids in the back on the dirt hills - a new favorite past-time!)

On Tuesday - The caution tape through Sandy's yard(our neighbor)

and the hole in the back is just about finished!

The mounds of dirt in the back - I was amazed at how much dirt

came out of the hole...kind of crazy.

And today - Ryan got the footings just about ready to go -

I think he is going to try to pour them this weekend.

We are making progress!!!

2010-04-30T05:08:00.000-07:00

Ran into the first snag of the project - we have orangburg sewer pipe - which meant nothing to me until yesterday when now we have to replace the pipe clear out into the street. The pipe has not gone bad yet, but it is just a matter of time so we decided we might as well do it now while our driveway is gone and they can dig it all up. The hole in this picture about six feet underground is the original septic tank for the house and the old sprinkler lines that we figured ran right beside the original driveway.

The hole for the sewer - you can see the ladder sticking out is about an eight foot ladder. The kids wanted to go play in this hole last night after the excavator left until I told them what it was for - not as interested any more!

By the way - It snowed yesterday....I am so ready for a real spring!

2010-04-28T16:31:00.000-07:00

The driveway is gone - along with the grass that Sandy (Ryan's sister) and Ryan would always argue about! (Sandy would always have it perfect looking and Ryan would drive on it)

The sidewalk is gone - the grass is going eventually.

The starts of the hole - it is a little scary sitting in your home and hearing a backhoe scraping against your back wall. I wouldn't let the girls go downstairs incase the wall happened to collapse....

The yellow just to the left of our neighbor's house is Morgan - pretty big dirt hills - she was watching at the window for the excavator to leave so she could go climbing!

The Difference A Day Makes

2010-04-23T20:30:00.000-07:00

The last bit of the walnut tree.

The carport coming down.

Carport is down and cleaning up.

The view now from the backyard - alot different than my before picture a few days ago.

The spectactors! They were having fun watching the tractor. **And notice my cute swing I found at a garage sale and sprayed blue! We love it**

It was an exciting day but also kind of sad to see so much history gone. The clothesline that was in the backyard probably had 3 feet of cement around them that Ryan's grandpa had dug out the hole and poured himself. And the walnut trees roots left huge holes in half of the sandbox from a seed that Ryan's grandpa planted lots of years ago.

It has Officially Begun

2010-04-22T15:35:00.000-07:00

Three of the 4 trees are gone and the clothesline as well.

It doesn't look like much but we are excited!

A Big Day Tomorrow (Hopefully)

2010-04-21T19:30:00.001-07:00

Paper work is all completed and will be signed by the end of the week, we picked up our building permit today, and the excavator should be here tomorrow morning! I am very excited. Here are some pictures of the house as of today with some major changes coming soon!!

We went to Denver over the weekend for our spring break and had a wonderful time with the Wilcox's. The kids all played so well together and had so much fun. Ashlyn was in girly heaven with Amanda, I'm not sure what Morgan and Ali did but they love being together, and Maddie and Ian had a blast playing everything from the drums to the trampoline! We kept ourselves busy going to parks and walking around this beautiful area in Evergreen. Wish our trip could have been longer but enjoyed every second we had there!!

2010-03-19T08:19:00.000-07:00

This last week has been full of paperwork - it seems like a never ending cycle. I keep thinking that we are close but not quite there. Our building permit is ready, our excavator is lined up and ready to dig, we are just waiting on the title work for the house to be completed. Hopefully soon! Other than that we are just keeping busy with the girls, work, and all the other things that seem to keep us going!

A Successful Week

2010-03-08T15:39:00.000-08:00

We were able to get the countertops and mirrors in the vanity area and bathroom in the basement. I love how they turned out. This is the vanity area (where the kitchen used to be). I figured with three someday teenage daughters and one bathroom would not work so hopefully this will help out in the future!

This is Ashlyn's room, mostly finished. I finished the flower quilt and she loves it and the windows turned out fun above her bed!The part of the remodel that I was really sad about was having to cut down this tree. This is a walnut tree that Ryan's grandpa planted from a seed in the backyard. It is huge and totally shades the swingsets and our backyard. Unfortunately the house and the tree would not fit together so the tree has to go. Ryan and his brothers started cutting it down on Saturday afternoon, this is about as far as they got because a branch was tangled in our comcast wire and took out our phone, internet, and cable as it fell to the ground. Needless to say it was a quite weekend with no phone or tv. (I loved it!) Morgan went and layed on her bed and cried when they were working on the tree, she has just discovered climbing this tree and was very upset that her dad was cutting it down.

Our building permit is done and we are just waiting on some title work with in the next couple of weeks we should be able to dig our hole!

2010-02-27T07:40:00.000-08:00

I have been in the mood to sew the last 6 months or so and have had a lot of fun with it. Finished two quilts like this for Morgan and Maddie's bedroom (with a lot of help from my wonderful mother-in-law) and we are now just waiting for the furniture to make it out of Ryan's shop into the bedroom to put it all together!

Now I am working on this one for Ashlyn's bedroom and because of that I am now trying to convince myself to repaint her room (we painted it about two months ago when we finished it) so that it all comes together better. I pulled all of Ashlyn's furniture out of storage yesterday and hopefully will have her room ready to go by the end of the weekend!! I can't tell you how excited I am to have a couple of rooms in my house that are decorated!!!

Need I Say More....

2010-02-23T18:22:00.000-08:00

Maddie Sue

There is nothing much better than a big empty room with brand new carpet!

2010-02-22T15:43:00.000-08:00

Look at my beautiful new carpet.... oh yeah - it didn't happen today! They say tomorrow, I have to be patient and nice because I know Ryan has done the same to others - get a little behind schedule and have to put someone off. In the mean time Morgan convinced me to go get another box of her books out of storage and she has been arranging her books for the past couple hours. I love that she loves to read.

A New Project

2010-02-21T20:20:00.000-08:00

For those of you who know the house this is standing at the back door looking straight the bottom would be the basement and the top would be the small bedroom upstairs - and yes there is a huge hole in floor - we had to rebuild the stairs so the head room had to be cut out of the stairs so we could still walk up and down. And yes those are my two new wall ovens that will go in my new kitchen - found them on a great deal we could pass up so they are just hanging out until the kitchen is ready to go in!

Ryan painting the bedroom closet in the basement. Carpet is going in tomorrow...Yeah!!! Oh is it Sunday - shoot....

We were in desperate need of some sun so we escaped to San Diego for the long President's Day weekend - it was a wonderful 3 days sitting on the beach and getting a little bit of color back into our skin. I don't think the girls came inside other than to sleep the entire time we were there and Maddie kept saying, "Mom, I don't even have to put my shoes on to go outside!" A much needed break!

Remodeling can get frustrating and overwhelming at times and I find myself trying to remember why we take on these projects - so I have decided that I need to do something to remind myself how far we have come and that it really is worth it in the end so here I go.... I am going to take a picture each day, post it, and document what has happened on the house that day. Somedays it may not be much, and others will be much more interesting, but hopefully at the end of this I will have a record of what we have done and realize it wasn't really that bad! We love this house and the chance to live on the farm (Ryan's dad's farm) and are excited to live here forever so it will be fun to have this record of how we got here! So here goes....

A Little Update!!

2009-12-14T09:58:00.000-08:00

I have a few minutes so thought I would update with a few things we have done lately! Drove to New Mexico right before Thanksgiving to see the BYU game and the Montoyas. Always have a great time with the Montoyas. Here are a few of the cousins that went to the Botanical Gardens.
The work on our house is slowly but surely continuing. I was hoping the basement would be finished by Christmas - but that is not going to happen so now I am hoping for January... Here are the girls being put to work hauling lumber for Ryan.

Grandma Doris Day! We always have fun on this day making our candy trains and gingerbread houses to celebrate our mom's birthday. This year we did it a little early so that the Wilcox's could be with us! We had a great time as always! All four of us girls (me and my sister's) have a daughter close to Ashlyn's age and they love being together!

The group making the trains and houses. Notice no boys - they are all to the left watching the BYU vs. Utah football game.

We took Grandma Reeder to Ogden to see the Christmas lights. It was a cold night but we had a great time seeing the lights, going to dinner, and getting a little bit of shopping done.

Hope everyone is have a fun and busy December!

Happy Halloween!!

2009-10-31T15:34:00.001-07:00

Hope you are having as much fun as we are!!!

2009-10-24T08:01:00.000-07:00

Where have we been??? I know - I get way behind on this thing. I did finish the shower curtain and love it - but the bathroom is still under construction so I haven't hung it up yet. I have been working on a few other projects as well lately - Made two full size patchwork quilts for the girls bedroom, halloween costumes (dorthy, cheerleader, and a fairy), new pajamas for the girls (they turned out very cute), and now I am sewing with pink pleather - a little scary I know but a saw a darling superhero cape that I am trying out for some Christmas presents!! I'll take some pictures and show soon...maybe...

Our nephew Kade moved in with us to go to school and work. He is a great kid and Ryan has enjoyed having another male around the house - but I have to admit I have a new appreciation for his 5 sisters!!! A few of which occasionally read this so my hat goes off to you girls, I love you even more!!!

Our house is slowly but surely moving forward. We currently have 1 bathroom for the 6 of us so our neighbors occasionally have a little girl doing the potty dance on their front porch so thankfully they are very nice!!

The first day of school. (I do drive to the same school every morning, but there is something better about the school bus I guess) It has been very sweet watching Morgan take care of Ashlyn at school and making sure she is okay. I love having both of the girls there and can't wait until next year when all three will be with me. Ashlyn is in all day kindergarten so it makes it a lot easier for me, Morgan still loves school and Ashlyn loves it as well.
Backpacking to White Pine Lake at Tony Grove. I have to admit that this was my first experience on peeing in the woods. I was very strategic about it and dehydrated myself so I only had to go once in the 24 hour period! It was a beautiful hike, it was about 8 miles and our girls did awesome. Ashlyn and Morgan walked the entire way, and we only had to carry Maddie when she would fall (she was listening to the Ipod and singing and kept falling because she wasn't paying attention to where she was walking.) Kade and the Smith's came with us and we had a great time!

Our one finished room in the house and I love it - I haven't put anything on the walls (waiting for the rest of the basement to get finished) and we need to get the headboard finished! I am thinking that this will end up being Maddie Sue's room because the other bedroom has to have two girls in the room and nobody wants to share with Maddie.

Ashlyn and Maddie did Future Rockettes over at the high school with the drill team. This is just before there performance. Cute girls that I learned quickly love to perform - I don' t know why that surprised me!!

Spent a long weekend in San Diego and had a great time, Ryan was working on some cabinets for my aunt and uncle so the girls and I spent the day on the beach. A great day!!

2009-10-24T07:43:00.000-07:00

I truly believe that this is really where I belong on any given week day - sitting on the beach, reading, watching my kids play in the water and getting just enough sun - loved it. I just haven't quite figured out how to transplant my life to the coast....
Had Morgan's birthday in San Diego - she had her first store bought birthday cake - that was quite the ordeal for me. I have always called it "the curse of my mother" (a good thing of course) She always made our amazing birthday cakes and halloween costumes - I'm am almost positive that if she was here she would tell me that is way easier to buy both (especially with working full time) but she is not here and I am always striving to be half the mother she was!!

Sea World - we love this place - thanks Aunt Karen and Uncle Dee for letting us crash at your home and have a wonderful weekend!!

Oops - forgot to flip the picture - but went camping last weekend up Logan Canyon - I have to admit I whined a little before we went because I hate to be cold and who camps in the middle of October - but it was beautiful and we had a great time!! (You were right Ryan!)

Another sideways picture - The next house project on the list - my basement cabinets. I absolutely love them and am so excited to have red cabinets. How fun is that!! At first I wasn't sure I wanted red because what if I got tired of it in a few years and Ryan reminded me that we own a cabinet shop and we could change them whenever - I'm thinking I'm going to go with a little blue upstairs - I love color!!!

That in a very quick nutshell is what we have been up to. Keeping busy (sometimes probably too busy), having fun with each other, and surviving the remodel!! Hope everyone out there is doing just as well!!!

The Project for Today

2009-08-11T10:42:00.000-07:00

I'm going to attempt a shower curtain and curtains for the girls bathroom! I'll show you when it is finished (as long as it looks good!)

Let There Be Light....

2009-08-10T14:58:00.001-07:00

Our BIG basement windows are in and I love them!!! It makes the basement rooms so much brighter and safer for my kids! (Now the yard needs a little help...tractors and grass are never a good combination)

The view from the outside
The view from inside

Next... this is where my kids are sleeping now. (Notice the nice new basement windows!) It drives me crazy for it to not be cute but all things will come in time- right??? The girls each have thier own bed, one of each size (queen, full, and twin), a couple of wall ovens to the left for our new kitchen that we bought on an awesome closeout, a 14 foot river raft on the right, and a few other miscellanous items.

** Maddie asked me this morning if she can have Ashlyn's bed when she gets older because she wants to a queen!

Always Makes Me A Little Nervous When....

2009-08-05T11:45:00.001-07:00

There is a trackhoe in my front yard - (and Ryan is running it). Finished project coming soon...

Keeping Busy...

2009-08-05T11:11:00.000-07:00

Freezing Corn - just call me Suzie Homemaker!(Ha) Ryan and I did 20 dozen ears of corn - Ryan loves the corn - and just ignore the huge chunk of butter in the pans.....

Camping at Alta ski resort with the Stokes and hiking up to Cecret Lake. It was a beautiful campground with all the wildflowers (and two huge moose that went right through our campsite) and a great hike. The kids were really fun to hike with and had a great time!

Just had to throw this picture in - Ashlyn all dressed up as a cowgirl - I wonder about some of the things she comes up with. And to top it off she had folded down the waistband of the skirt just to make it a little shorter - she is only 5 - I think we are in trouble...

Moving Day!

2009-07-25T19:42:00.000-07:00

We decided awhile ago to move on to our next (and final) home so we listed our house with an real estate agent in April - it sold in June and we closed last week. We had to move a little earlier because Ryan has been out of town. We are excited - but also kind of sad. We really loved our home in Perry and put an amazing amount of time into fixing it up. Here is a before picture of our home - you can see that we added the garage and the roof over the porch - and redid all the exterior siding and the front door (not to mention all the stuff we did inside!!)
Here is what it looked like when we sold it. You can't see it too well - but I loved my front door that Ryan built - it was knotty alder with v-groove panels and six little windows across the top.

And this is where we are now. We love this home and where it is - it is the farmhouse on Ryan's parents farm - the home that Ryan's dad grew up in. We are going to be doing some extensive remodeling and I'll keep you updated on that as we go - for now we have installed a couple new windows in the front and cut some sheetrock in the kitchen (we had to buy a new fridge and it didn't fit....let the remodeling begin...)

Quick Update!!

2009-07-25T19:13:00.000-07:00

Here is a quick update of what we have been doing since Easter (the last time I blogged!). They are completely out of order - but we have been having a great summer and keeping very busy!

Here is Ryan on the Snake River, I think he is the second back on the right side of the photo.

Waiting for the Oakley Rodeo to start - this is a great rodeo with fun fireworks afterwards.

The girls waiting at grandma's house for the 4th of July parade in Perry. Ryan was in Denver for the 4th so the girls and I had kind of a quiet day!

Familiy photo under the arches in Jackson Hole. Spent a day in Jackson waiting for everyone else to come up and ride the Snake River this year. The river was great and everyone had fun. Ryan ended up buying his own raft last week - so if you ever want to run the river - he always needs an excuse to go!!!

Tonight we went over to the church and did a slip and slide down the hill. The girls had a blast and my bathtub is now full of grass!

The Stewart cousins at the Oquirrah Mountain Temple open house (minus Brant and Kyler - who went to the car, and Baby Sophie - who was sleeping)

Wilcox Cousins moved back to the good old USA and were able to stay with us for a few weeks before they headed back to Denver. We loved having them here and spending time with them!

Ashlyn and Maddie went to ballet camp - and loved every minute of it!!

Ashlyn graduated from preschool. She loved preschool this last year - what could be better than spending two hours a day with your two cousins and two fabulous teachers!

Morgan finished the second grade and can't wait for third. This is a field trip I was able to go on with her. A few perks of being a teacher - I got paid to go on field trips with my daughter!!

Spring Break 2009

2009-04-16T16:36:00.000-07:00

This year for Spring Break the Smith's (Ryan's sister) and us jumped in our cars and took the 11 hour drive to Los Lunas, New Mexico to spend the weekend with the Montoya's(Ryan's sister). We had a great time and the Montoyas as always were great hosts letting us crash their house with 12 additional people... Thanks again - we love visiting your house! Here are few of the highlights of our trip -
Hot tubbing at Peggy's - The swimming pool was only braved for dares of jumping in and right back out, but the hot tub was used frequently throughout the weekend!

The girl's were troupers and slept where ever we left them!

Our first stop was on the way down at Four Corners - Here is Maddie, nothing really there, but still kind of a cool place to see and say you have been!

Here is our family with Grandma at Four Corners!

2009-04-16T16:25:00.000-07:00

We drove down to Carlsbad Caverns on Thrusday afternoon and went in the caverns on Friday morning - they were amazing. Ryan was very excited about going down to the caverns - it was amazing. This is the whole group - minus me- at the mouth of the caverns. We walked down 750 feet (about 1.2 miles down into the earth) and then about a mile on the path once we got to the bottom. My girls were all a little nervous going down because it was dark and very steep at times, but did great once we were in a little ways.

Kimber, Grandma and the girls in front of a gigantic stalagmite. The room at the bottom of the caverns was as big as 14 football fields - huge!

Another picture inside the cavern.

After we were back outside eating our lunch in the back of the Smith's van. After we left the caverns we decided to drive down to El Paso, Texas and check out the border. It was kind of fun seeing another city we have never seen - We are always up for an adventure. The cavern trip added about 12 hours of driving to our trip - and I have to say it was well worth the drive!!

Coloring easter eggs at the Montoyas!

2009-04-16T16:17:00.000-07:00

All the Reeder grandkids after the Easter egg hunt in Peggy's backyard. I have a picture of all the kids for the past 13 years so they all humored me and posed for the picture. ( I just cleaned out the Easter baskets today and found a boiled egg - a little old and stinky....)

My three beautiful girls in their new Easter dresses - they all got to pick out thier own dresses this year, Morgan was so excited she didn't have to match...

Kelsy, Kade (or stinkerbum as Maddie calls him), Ashly, Morgan, and Maddie in front of the Aquarium.

The girls in a giant carrot at the Botanical Gardens - children's garden, very fun place!

The girls in the giant tile chair at the Albequerque Zoo. I think this is one of the best zoo's we have ever been too - tons of animals and fun things to do - the girls love it there!

Thanks Montoya's for the great weekend and letting us come - we had a great time as always!!!

Looking Good!!

2009-04-16T15:56:00.001-07:00

Just a few Maddie moments - I sent her to put her clean clothes away in her bedroom this afternoon and this is what I found about a 1/2 hour later (the clothes still stacked neatly on her bed), this happens often when Maddie has to clean - apparently she is just too tired!!
Maddie's new favorite outfit, a leotard with Ashlyn's soccer cleats, shinguards and socks!! She is looking good!!

Checking off the List!

2009-03-21T22:24:00.001-07:00

We have been working lots to finish our house so here is what we have checked off our list this week .... we (I should really say Ryan) finished the basement cabinets and they turned out perfect! We are getting all organized now! The corner cabinet is actually a door into the storage under the stairs, Maddie thinks it is her playroom.
Here is the other side of the room with the desk for the computers.

Here is the basement bathroom - my favorite paint color in the house - you can't really tell here, but a blueish gray color.

The upstairs bathroom - we got the tile on the floor and in the shower, and all the new faucets in the tub.

One step closer to the "FOR SALE" sign - All we have left is to paint the siding outside, the backsplash in the kitchen, and paint touchups. Then we will start all over again!!!

Snow Day!!

2009-02-17T19:51:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to make the Montoya's jealous that they live in nice, sunny, 70 degree weather when they could have been here today shoveling 10 inches of snow out of their driveway!! Oh and just so you know - there was maybe an inch or two of snow on the lawn yesterday when we went to sleep! Fun day!!

Pay it Forward!!

2009-02-08T08:37:00.001-08:00

"Here's how it works-the first 3 people to leave a comment on this post will receive, at some point during the year, a handmade gift from me. What it will be and when it will arrive is a total surprise! The catch is that you must participate as well-before you leave your comment here, write up a pay it forward post on your blog to keep the fun going. Then come back, let me know you're going to play, and sit back and anticipate the arrival of your gift! Remember that only the first 3 comments will receive a gift from me, so be quick!"It will be fun and it will give me an excuse to make something!!

Pros and Cons

2009-01-25T12:57:00.000-08:00

The pros and cons of owning a cabinet shop - Pros - amazing cabinets that don't cost me anything and are designed exactly how I want them (unless Ryan and I disagree on the design then they usually end up his way because I have no control once he starts!) This is Morgan's room that we are slowing but surely finishing. Ryan installed the cabinets yesterday. We did the built in cabinets and desk instead of a closet and I love the way it turned out!
The cons - the shoemaker's kids never have shoes - the builder's home is never quite finished and if I called Ryan to ask for the rest of my knobs, I'm pretty sure my messages would be ignored!!!

Happy Birthday Ashlyn!

2009-01-25T12:52:00.000-08:00

Our Ashlyn is five!! It is hard for me to believe - she wanted a pink pony birthday and I tried my best to pull it off for her!
Ashlyn with her little friends for her party! This was her first "real" birthday party and she was loving all the attention!

Christmas 2008!!

2009-01-25T12:39:00.000-08:00

We woke up Christmas morning to a trip to Southern California, I'm not sure who was more excited - the parents or the kids, but we had a great time. Here is Ashlyn waiting at the airport Christmas afternoon, it was a long day between storms and trying to fly out, but we finally made it to LA!

We headed to Disneyland for the next three days and had a great time. Here are the girls in front of the castle.

The girls with Snow White! (I think that this was the longest line we stood in the entire 3 days)

On the tea cups!

Ashlyn and Morgan on the Bug Ride at California Adventure!

2009-01-25T12:33:00.000-08:00

We spent Monday at Balboa Park in San Diego. It is a great park that we spent all day wandering around and still didn't see everything.
Ryan, Ashlyn, and Maddie!

The girl's favorite day of the entire trip - the beach! We walked down to the beach from Aunt Karen's house and spent all day there. It was about 75 degrees and I thought the water was freezing, but it didn't stop the girls (or Ryan) Maddie's first attempt at jumping a wave by herself!

Morgan, Ryan, and Ashlyn jumping waves.

2009-01-25T12:27:00.000-08:00

On New Year's Eve we went to Sea World! Waiting for Shamu at Sea World. It was again great weather and we had such a fun day.
Ryan, Morgan, and Ashlyn playing with the starfish!

The girls with Aunt Karen and Uncle Dee in their backyard. We had so much fun staying with them, the girls are still talking about Big Dee and KiKi!! Thanks so much for letting visit!

Merry Christmas From the Reeder's

2008-12-21T20:54:00.001-08:00

First attempt at getting a picture of the girls in their dresses.
A few minutes later and another location, Maddie surrendered to the picture. Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas with family and friends- and we will see you in January (I think Santa is leaving the girls a trip to California!!! Shhhhhhh!!)

Beware...

2008-12-14T18:42:00.000-08:00

For those of you that attend the Reeder Christmas Party - Beware of the Pinata - Ryan has been at work again trying to create another masterpiece (actually two this year). He has abandoned the construction expansion foam this year and is trying a new method -flour and water (3 layers) then covered with ribbed sheetrock tape, spray adhesive, and more layers of the flour and water. I wouldn't be surprised if duct tape makes it's way in as well.

Grandma Doris Day!

2008-12-14T18:37:00.000-08:00

Maddie Sue
Ashlyn

Morgan

All the kids minus the Wilcox's (we missed you and I'm sure you had fun at your own Grandma Doris Day!)

Every December we celebrate our Mom's birthday by making candy trains and graham cracker houses with our kids! Always a fun afternoon celebrating a Grandma that would do it with the kids if she was here!

November!!

2008-11-30T11:15:00.000-08:00

I'm still going private - I just haven't done it yet so add you email if you haven't already and I'll get around to it... Here are a few of the things we've been doing -

Girl's Day Out - Ryan had to work all day yesterday so us girls decided to have a day out. We started at our neice's baby shower, did a little shopping, went to lunch, went to a movie (Bolt), and then went to the light parade. I have to say there are a few perks to going to a parade in November - not near as many people! We had a great day and I love that my girls are getting older and we can go do fun things together - I'm sure there will be many girl days to come!!!

Happy Thanksgiving! We went to Ryan's mom's in the morning and saw everyone there and then I cooked my first Thanksgiving dinner for my sister's family and us. It actually turned out really well - I think I could do it again.

Here are all the little girls - they thought they all needed to dressed up like princesses for dinner - luckily we have plenty of princess dresses in our home to go around!

Here are our table decorations. Morgan spent Wednesday making fun little decorations for Thanksgiving dinner! She is a very creative little girl!

A few weekends ago Ryan decided that they needed to camp out. The tent got pitched in the backyard and the girls had a great time. We roasted hotdogs and smores in our fire pit, played "ghosts in the graveyard", and then they got all cuddled up in the tent and watched movies until they fell asleep. I boycotted the sleeping in the tent- I will camp in the summer, but I draw the line in November. Maddie showed up in my bed about midnight - she aparently was not cooperating and was kicked out of the tent!!

Private!!

2008-11-04T19:57:00.000-08:00

Hi - we are going private - leave your email if you want to view!!

Baptism Day

2008-11-01T19:27:00.001-07:00

Our beautiful Morgan was baptized today. She is such a sweetheart and we had a wonderful day. We were able to have lots of family members with us today and always love having family and friends in our home! Congrats Morgie we love you!!!

Halloween

2008-11-01T19:22:00.000-07:00

Here are the cute Reeder girls all dressed up for Halloween! We had a fun day with school activities a Halloween party at Mandy's, a jackolantern pizza for dinner, and trick or treating. I think the girls had just as much fun answering our door as they did knocking on other's doors. It was a great day and the girls had fun!Our cowgirl Ashlyn, chicken Maddie, and chef Morgan!

Quote of the day from Morgan, "Hey Ashlyn, shoot the chicken and I'll cook her..."

Preschool Program

2008-11-01T19:20:00.001-07:00

Ashlyn's preschool did a fall program. She did a great job! Singing is her thing! She loves preschool and has been singing the songs for weeks! She is lucky enough to be able to go to preschool with her two cousins! Aren't they cute!

Happy Birthday to Ryan!

2008-11-01T19:19:00.001-07:00

Happy 34 - I love you!!

Tagged by Kelly

2008-10-26T20:28:00.000-07:00

We will see how this goes -
8 TV shows I love to watch:
1. Survior
2. Amazing Race
3 through 7. Pretty much anything on HGTV (It drives Ryan crazy)
8. The news

My Favorite 8 Restaurants:
I don't really have one favorite- let alone 8!

8 Things That Happened Yesterday:
1. Cleaned my house
2. Ripped rock off our fireplace downstairs
3. Watched as Ryan and his brothers tried to fit our new couch down the stairs
4. Cleaned out our garage
5. Hung up a few pictures
6. Played Candyland with the girls
7. Picked up dinner for Ryan & the girls
8. Ran to Ogden with Morgan to pick up birthday presents (9 birthdays this week between my family and Ryan's family)

8 Things I'm Looking Forward To:
1. Not having any projects around the house (at least for a week or so)
2. Morgan's baptism
3. The holidays - I love anything to celebrate
4. Ashlyn's preschool program this week (she is quite the performer)
5. I only have to work all day once this week!
6. Shopping day with Sandy
7. Halloween
8. Springtime (I really don't like being cold!)

8 Things On My Wishlist
1. My house paid for
2. A cute car (minivans just do not do it for me...)
3. My kids to be happy and healthy
4. Ryan to finish school
5. To get my Masters degree
6. A cabin in the mountains somewhere
7. My kids to grow up with a strong testimony
8. A maid to cook and clean!!

8 People I Tag:
Whoever!! ( I'm not sure if anyone looks at this!!!)

More Moab Pictures

2008-10-19T18:11:00.001-07:00

This is Alan, Rilee, and Alexis standing on top of Mesa Arch. Like I said earlier it is a huge drop off. Two steps either way and they would be falling for quite sometime. Sandy was standing next to me with her head facing the other direction not wanting to watch. Scary!
Our little fish. The campground we stayed at had a outdoor heated pool that all the kids had a blast swimming each night. Morgan got the snorkel stuff for her birthday and was excited to try them out.
Our cute family on the edge of Grand Outlook in the Canyonlands Park. There were some amazing views. At one point Alexis was sitting on the edge behind us with her legs dangling over. She says there was a ledge not to far below, but I didn't want to look to see if she was crazy or not.

Maddie and Ryan hiking up the last stretch to Whale Rock at Canyonlands. Those little girls were great sports with all the hiking we did. We figured that in two days Morgan hiked at least 7.5 miles and the little girls hiked around 6. We had such a fun time with each other. We are already planning our next UEA trip!!

Moab

2008-10-19T17:59:00.001-07:00

We spent this last long weekend (UEA break) in Moab with our family, Mandy's (my sister) family, and Sandy's (Ryan's sister) family. We had a great time. I couldn't get the pictures to turn the right way so you'll just have to tilt your head! Here is our family at Delicate Arch. The girl's were great hikers making it all the way up and back with out much help!
Here is the whole group (minus me) at the beginning of Devil's Garden. Notice the number of girls in the picture. Sandy has 4 girls, we have 3, and Mandy has 2.
Morgan and Hallie at Landscape Arch. They were awesome hikers, usually at the front of the pack and running to get there if they got behind. They had a ton of fun together!
All the girls!
This is at Mesa Arch in Canyonlands. On the otherside of that wall is about a 600 foot drop off to the bottom of the canyon. I've decided I am scared of hieghts!

The First Snow

2008-10-19T17:57:00.001-07:00

Last Sunday it snowed for awhile, the girls were so excited they had to go out and play. It was a really wet snow so they were soaked by the time they came in, but had a great time!

Emergency Room

2008-10-06T17:29:00.000-07:00

Last night the girl's were running around in our newly finished basement with the lights turned out (chasing Morgan in her slippers that light up) and as Ashlyn told the doctor "I was running and I didn't see the wall." So mom, dad, and Ashlyn head off to the emergency room to get some stiches. Ryan offered to super glue it himself, but the doctor opted for 5 stiches in Ashlyn's forehead. She was so brave - she didn't make a peep while he was giving her 10 shots to deaden the area. She closed her eyes really tight and held my hands - what a brave little girl!! I was going to take the day off today and stay home with her, but she couldn't wait to go show Kali (Mandy's little girl who babysits them) her stitches! There were 2 other little girls in the emergency room with us - busy night for the little girls!

I Can't Believe She's Eight!!

2008-10-06T17:23:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday Morgan!! I can't believe my little girl is eight years old. I don't feel like I'm old enough to have an eight year old. I have always taken work off on my girl's birthday, but I couldn't convince Morgan to stay home with me. So I had to go to work - but I did have everyone wish her a happy birthday while she was walking around the school that day, which for a deathly shy little girl it was embarrassing! Morgan is a sweetheart!
Morgan at her party with her cousins and friends. Annie and Hallie spent the night with us that night as well and had a great time (We missed you Ali!!)
Swinging at her pinata - noticed how it is tied up - it struggled a little to stay together!
Maddie and Mia watching all the girls - Aren't they cute!

Just a few Pictures!

2008-10-06T15:27:00.000-07:00

We found Maddie sleeping like this the other day!
Our cute little tennis player!
Maddie Sue (notice the mascara on her eyelashes, she did it by herself - I swear does anyone every watch this child??)

Ouch!

2008-09-22T16:50:00.001-07:00

Just incase you have been wondering what it feels like to drop a dutch oven from waist heighth onto your big toe - it hurts bad!!!! I now have a purple, throbbing toe that hurts to have any pressure on it. I wouldn't suggest you try it for yourself!!

Suzy Homemaker!

2008-09-16T22:30:00.000-07:00

I realize that this is not a term that has really ever been used for me, I don't like to cook (take out tonight...) and my house is never spotless no matter how hard I try. But I do have to say that I have made a new step towards the title of Suzy Homemaker... I canned pears this week... Up until this point in my life I have taken my mom's attitude towards canning (I'll work and pay for the cans instead of having to can!!) We have a pear tree that I offered all the fruit to my sister Mandy, but she talked me into helping her can them. I have to admit that she did all the organizing, cooking, and preparing, but I did peel and cut pears for a good 4 to 5 hours!!! Now she is talking me into helping with the peaches as well....I guess we are both suckers for free food and I have to say there is something about adding to food storage that makes me feel like I have accomplished something!

Just For You, Krissy!!

2008-09-06T18:22:00.001-07:00

My sister, Krissy, came to visit us for week and we had a great time. We were really sad to see her leave, my girls still ask when Aunt Krissy is coming back - thankfully she is moving back to the states in March (or April or May - at least sometime with in the next year!!) I just had to post this picture of you, Kris so that when you tell the story to Brandon and you are laughing again, he can at least have an idea as to how great you look!!! Love ya!

First Day of School!

2008-08-26T19:07:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it is already that time! I have survived my first couple of days back and am only a little tired! Morgan started 2nd grade and after her first day said "That was the best day ever!", Morgan loves school and has been looking forward to going back for about a month. Luckily today she still thought it was the best ever so we should be off to a good year (It could possibly have something to do with not only being in the same class as her cousin Hallie, but also sitting right next to her - how could life get any better?) Ashlyn had her first day of preschool today and loved it just as much as her sister. She could not tell me what they did in class, but she could tell me what everyone was wearing (should I be concerned about this?) It took us about 15 minutes tonight to pick out the right outfit for tomorrow - Hopefully at some point in her education she sees the value of the alphabet.... Maddie was sadly devastated today when she finally realized she isn't going to school yet, but she did look awfully cute with her backpack ready to go!

Last Summer Fling!!

2008-08-26T18:57:00.000-07:00

The girls in the bobsled at the Olympic Museum! Out in the water at Bridal Veil Falls
These are our girls!!!! Don't they look great! Ashlyn fell in the water and got her bum all wet!
99 cent flip flops - I love a good deal!

We took our last summer fling a couple weekends ago before I had to go back to work. We just escaped to Park City and had a great time together. Ryan is way busy so we were just able to leave on Saturday afternoon and then woke ourselves up at 5:00 a.m. on Monday morning to get us back to work on time. (I was sitting in my faculty meeting with a Diet Coke all morning trying to stay awake!!) We did a little shopping, went to the Olympic Park, swam at the hotel (for hours), went to Bridal Veil Falls in Provo, walked around the Provo Temple, and of course watched the Olympics! It was sad to see our summer end....

8/8/08

2008-08-11T19:09:00.001-07:00

The Olympics are here again! On Friday the Stewart's (We missed you Wilcox's!!!) got together at the Lake and had an Olympic party full of swimming, food, and Olympic games! The competitiveness came out and I think I was the only one slightly injured during my attempt to run in a pillowcase! We had a fun day and the kids were exhausted by the time we were finished. After the lake the family was kind enough to do a service project for a couple of hours on our house (helped with the siding on the porch) and then we had dinner and watched the opening ceremonies at Robyn's house. It was a fun day and we have pretty much just watched the Olympics since then - even Morgan is hooked!

Olympic Torch Relay - Ryan trying not to spill the water out of the plunger!
Morgan was on the winning torch team! Nice job Morgie!
Ashlyn throwing the javelin (or better known as an alligator pool toy)
Water Balloon Volleyball
The 100 yard dash - We did this by age groups and let's just say that the race between the 3 sisters was the most entertaining, we really missed Kristyn! Mandy won (proof from Keith's photo finish) and I ended up in a pile on the ground, for some reason I thought I could run with a pillowcase over my feet - not the smartest idea!

Maddie & Mia
Kali, Ashlyn & Tegan
Annie & Morgan

Reminising (I'm not sure that is how you spell it???)

2008-08-02T16:15:00.000-07:00

Becky and Laura this is for you....we had Robyn's three youngest kids staying with us for a few days last week and we took all the kids to the Mayan restaurant is Salt Lake, well the entire way down and the entire way back Jarom (11 years old) was sitting next to Maddie and she had brought all of her Polly Pockets and Barbies. Well poor Jarom had to dress them all up for her and play with her. He was such a good sport and very cute with her, during this Ryan was driving and just shaking his head. I asked him why he was shaking his head and laughing and his only reply was, "I vividly remember the days that I was surround by Becky and Laura in a car and dressing Barbies also, I guess everyone has to do that at some point in time!" I thought you would get a laugh out of that!

Junior

2008-08-02T15:56:00.000-07:00

I was having a nice quite afternoon last week. My girl's were all playing together, our van was in the shop so I had to stay home and I was really enjoying myself. My sister even called and asked if we wanted to go to the lake with her and I told her no, that we were having a great afternoon. Well, I should have gone. Maddie and Ashlyn were playing in their room while I was doing the dishes and they came running out of thier room laughing, and what I saw made me want to cry. Maddie had a mullet (and a really bad one at that). Ashlyn had chopped off almost all of Maddie's hair. It was one of the worst cuts I have seen! Hair was all over their bedroom also... I hurried and called Mindy (my niece that cuts hair) and told her we had a problem. We walked to the salon (because our car was in the shop!) and Mindy and her friend did the best that they could to salvage the rest of Maddie's hair. Well, I can laugh about it now and Maddie has a new nickname from her father, Junior, because she actually looks a lot like Ryan's three year old picture! Maddie says "I not junior, I Maddie Sue" if you call her that, but Ryan is enjoying it. I have gotten over the loss of Maddie's hair and have found some cute flower headbands to go with the new due. Maddie now says that she wants her hair to be as long as Hallie's (which is past her waist) so hopefully the next time the two girls try something they will let me now by screaming or something!!!

Junior Sue

Ryan at three years old!

The culprits!!! Luckily they are awfully cute little girls and it is hard to stay mad at them for too long. Ashlyn held my hand the entire walk to the salon that afternoon and said "Mom even though you are mad at me, you still love me!" That kind of puts everything into perspective coming from a 4 year old!!! And of course I love them both no matter what they look like!

Lava Hot Springs

2008-07-14T20:26:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday to Me! I got home from Girl's Camp on Thursday morning and Ryan had everything ready to go camping again at Lava Hot Springs for the weekend. We stayed through Sunday afternoon and had a great time. We celebrated my birthday - this is me opening my new bar-b-que things (Ryan admitted they were really for him!), but the rest of my presents were very fun - new shoes and an ipod!

Friday we went swimming at the pool in Lava and had a great time. We were there all day and still had to pry the girls away. Here is Ryan and the girls!
Morgan got very brave and jumped off the diving board all by herself, and then loved it. She jumped and jumped and jumped. You can see the "Red Rocket" waterslide in the background and Ryan, Morgan, and Ashlyn loved that as well (Maddie is not quite tall enough) The first time Ashlyn went down Ryan had to pry her hands off the sides and then push her, but then she loved it and that is all she talks about now!
Here is Maddie and I in the kiddie pool. Ryan got them some goggles and they were hilarious with them. They are all little fish in the water.
Here are the cute girls on Main Street in Lava. We were trying to find something to eat (there are not many choices)
Saturday, Morgan and Ryan floated down the river in Lava and had a blast. They went on a double tube and flipped it once, fell out another time, and finally Ryan's bum and the tube hit a rock and it popped! Morgan thought that was pretty funny. Ryan says he is more sore from floating that river than from floating the Snake River at record highs! Kind of funny. That night we went to a little hometown rodeo in Mccammon and had fun there as well. We came home Sunday afternoon, and today has been filled with cleaning my house and doing laundry to catch up from being gone for a week. I have to admit, I was looking forward to sleeping in my bed last night after camping for a week!!

Girl's Camp

2008-07-14T20:20:00.001-07:00

I think I figured that this was my 15th or 16th year of girl's camp and I always have fun! The girls are great and the leaders are fun - what else can you ask for in a girl's camp! Here are just a few pictures of the girls and the camp fire!! Fun times!

4th of July

2008-07-06T13:54:00.000-07:00

Every year for the Fourth of July, Ryan and his brothers put a softball team together and play in a tournament. Every year they complain about it, say they don't want to play, and then find some reason that they have to do it again! Last year it was because it was the last year before Dallin left on his mission, this year it was because Dale got married (I still haven't figured that one out yet), and next year I am sure they will play again! They didn't play very well this year, but I don't think they really care about that either. It just provides another year of stories to tell about who got hurt and who did something to laugh about! Here is Ryan on the bench (where he usually prefers to hang out)! Morgan and Ashlyn on the morning of the 4th watching Ryan play!
This is the look I usually get when I ask Maddie to smile!
After the softball game we headed over to Grandma Reeder's house to watch the Perry Parade. The kids get a ton of candy (3 grocery sacks about a 1/4 full each) and we also got 2 tshirts, a hat a couple of key chains, otter pops, and a few other souvenirs so the kids love it! Here are Hallie and Morgan waiting for the parade to start!
Here is Ryan and the little girls waiting. Notice Ryan gets his chair right up front. I think he collects more candy than the kids!!!
After the parade we took the kids to see Kung Fu Panda which was a cute show! Later that evening we went to Sandy's for a barbque and a game of kickball before we watched the fireworks and then watched a movie on the projector in the park. My camera batteries died before all that though so I don't have any pictures. Although the kickball game would of had some good ones. Sharon screaming while Ryan is throwing the ball at her, Mindy trying to carry Maddie around the bases, Sandy just about breaking her toe while kicking the ball, and Nate running nonstop in the outfield because everyone was trying to avoid him catching their ball. Good times!!!

Wacky Wednesday!!

2008-07-06T13:47:00.000-07:00

My sister Mandy is a very fun aunt and had a Wacky Wednesday party this week for all the girls! She read the book and then had all kinds of fun games and activities for them and then a "wacky" treat! My kids had a great time. Here is Maddie (apparently a princess dress is wacky)! Ashlyn did a pretty good job with her pants and shirt on inside out and backwards! Her hair had a bunch of buns all over as well!
Morgan went all out with different flip flops a skirt over a dress and inside out and backwards shirt and crazy hair! The girls all had a great time!
Here is Manda readying the book to the girls!
Me and my girls!
Thanks for the fun Mandy!!!

My Baby is 3!!!

2008-07-06T13:40:00.001-07:00

Maddie and her new baby doll!Mindy and Maddie swimming!
This was on Father's Day when we went to the cemetary to put some flags on Grandpa Reeder's grave. My little Maddie definetely has a personality and style all her own!

I'm having a hard time believing that our little Maddie is three! We had a great day eating treats, opening presents and having a swimming party in the back yard. She invited all of the little cousins (which is a lot between the two families) and then Mindy (her 21 year old cousin that she adores! Mindy was a great sport even showing up in her swimsuit ready to swim in the girls. Unfortunately Maddie wouldn't let her in the pool because she was "too big"!! So Mindy had to resort to the sprinklers and the tramp! Maddie loved her new baby doll and her snow white dress that has already had a great amount of use!!

Snake River Rafting!

2008-07-01T18:57:00.000-07:00

We spent last weekend on the Snake River with the majority of Ryan's family, my sister Mandy and her husband's family, and my Aunt Karen and Uncle Dee came also!! We were so excited that they were able to come with us (thanks for coming!!!). We had a great time. The water was higher than it has been for 15 years and the rapids were incredible. We had two class 4 rapids and lots of smaller ones. Ryan looks forward to this trip every year so he was beyond excited that the water was so high. Ryan's nephew Shane took some great pictures of us going down, I posted a few here, but he has a website that has all of them (picasaweb.google.com/thompshane/RiverRafting2008) Here are a couple of my favorites....
If you notice off the left side... Kelsy was headed in, they weren't able to catch her for awhile and she was freezing by the time we got to the boat dock. (Kelsy ended up in the water several more times so don't worry about her getting scared!)
This is our first trip down the river. Mandy's leg is flying and our faces are looking good!!!!
This is my absolute favorite picture ... Look at Whitney's face right in the middle of the raft. That is how you feel headed into that first drop!! It was so much fun.

We had so much fun, we flipped a raft, popped two rafts, and lost a lot of paddles, but everyone came home safe and enjoyed themselves! Now Ryan is just worried about being disappointed for the next 15 years until the water is this high again. I on the other hand will be just fine with the calmer waters!!

Beautiful View

2008-06-11T20:54:00.000-07:00

You can't get the full effect of this sunset, but is was beautiful tonight. We have a great view from our home and this was one of the best that we have seen!

Front Runner Adventure

2008-06-11T20:46:00.001-07:00

Ryan took a day off work last week and we decided to take the train to Salt Lake. The girls thought it was quite an adventure (Ryan is now determined to ride the Amtrak train somewhere for a vacation, he first wanted to take a Greyhound bus so I guess I can't complain about Amtrak, it could be a lot worse!) Anyway we boarded in Ogden, rode to Salt Lake, spent the day at the Gateway, walking around, eating, going to Build-A-Bear, catching a movie, and then headed back home. We had a great time together!

The girls on the train (you can see Ryan's mom and nephew Kade across the aisle)
Maddie with her new monkey from Build-A-Bear! It was really cute to watch her. Grandma even built a bear for herself!
Running through the fountains at the Gateway. (Notice we are all in long pants and sweatshirts, it has got to warm up sometime....)
The group (except me) sitting by the fountains.

Wheeler Farm

2008-06-11T20:35:00.001-07:00

The girls and I were visiting some friends in Salt Lake last week and decided to stop at Wheeler Farm on our way home. We have always loved Wheeler Farm and I am loving it that my girls are getting old enough to enjoy it as much as I do! We had a great day!

The three girls in the back of a wagon!
Ashlyn and the duck they were trying to get pictures with!
Morgan is pretty close to the duck (this was very brave for her!)
Our Little Miss Maddie Sue

There was a mama duck with eight little babies. Here are Mads and Ashlyn seeing how close they can get!

Summer Time!!!

2008-06-02T13:56:00.000-07:00

Those of you who know me know that I LOVE my summers, and it started today!!! I know school got out last Friday, but it never really counts until Sunday night and Monday morning when you don't have to get up and do anything. The girls fell asleep at 7:00 p.m. last night and woke up at 9:00 a.m. this morning. I'm think these last few weeks have been as hard on them as they were on me. We have had a wonderful day working in the yard, taking Ryan some lunch, and I may even make dinner tonight!!!

Ashlyn's Gym Performance

2008-06-02T13:49:00.000-07:00

Ta Da!! I think this was Ashlyn's favorite part of the entire year, saying tada after each thing (and you have to stand on the start to say it!)
Ashlyn has absolutely no fear and is a crazy girl on the tramps. Just after I took this picture she tried to flip backwards and landed on her head and hurt her neck. Scared me (and her)!
This is her with her trophy, she was so excited and did a great job this year. She can't wait to start gymnastics next year and get to be in the "big" gym without her mom there! I can't believe how quickly my girls are growing up!

Twins???

2008-05-20T15:11:00.000-07:00

Maddie and Ashlyn are looking more and more alike!! I even had to take a second glance today to see who was who!! With all this warm weather they have been playing hard and are worn out!

Morgan's Gymnastics

2008-05-20T15:01:00.000-07:00

Morgan had her gymnastics performance last night and did a great job. (My camera is obviously not state of the art, the delay was too long and I had a hard time getting a good picture! It is of course the camera's problem not the photographers!) She successfully did a backhand spring this year which was her goal, and had to work really hard to accomplish that. Morgan is not one to try scary things and flipping upside down is scary for her. We were really proud of her. She decided a few months ago that she wanted to start taking piano lessons instead of gymnastics and I told her she had to finish out this year of gymnastics and then we could start piano next year. As we walked out of the gym last night and I was telling her what a great job she did she said, "Thanks, can I start piano now?" I guess I am shopping for a piano...

2008-05-20T14:51:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted for awhile, so here are some cute pictures! I lost Maddie the other day and was almost getting to the point that I was panicking! This is where I found her, in her bed with her blankie pulled way up, fast asleep. That is the last place I would look for Maddie, she usually isn't there even in the middle of the night. She was obviously tired and didn't wake up until the next morning! Cutie!

I walked into the kitchen the other day and this is what I found....I knew that Maddie had figured out a way to get into the treats, but just figured it was Morgan helping her out, nope, just figured out how to make her own little set of stairs to any treats she would like. What a pill!!

Happy May Day!

2008-05-01T20:00:00.000-07:00

It was quite the May Day today. We had snow! That is very depressing to me. Morgan scored the winning (and only) goal in her soccer game today! She was very excited about that! Maddie didn't have any accidents, and Ashlyn made up yet another song today so we must call this a successful day! Hopefully there will just not be anymore snow, I'm not sure I can handle anymore.

Fun Weekend!

2008-04-19T07:21:00.000-07:00

Maddie, Ashlyn, Jamie, & Morgan
Morgan & her cousin Hallie are in the same class and were both trees in the opera!!

Last weekend we had a great time. Ryan's neice was married in the Logan temple, his nephew came home from his mission, and Morgan had her school opera. Her class wrote all the words to the opera, they sang it into a tape recorder as of how they wanted it to sound and then some one wrote all the music for it. They practiced for a long time and it was really cute. Singing and being in front of a lot of people are not really Morgan's thing so we were really proud of her. She was a tree in the opera. We are still working on the roof, slowly but surely is our moto!

Construction Zone

2008-04-07T18:16:00.000-07:00

We have successfully started another construction project on our home without finishing the last one! Oh well, we figure we have to go with what we are in the mood for working on. We have most recently added a gable to front of our house and over our porch, hopefully this will give the house a little bit of personality. The only problem is we have a hole in our roof right now and it has been raining and snowing off and on all day. Ryan has been on the roof all day to say the least. It is looking good. We have been in our house for 11 months now and it is hard to believe all the work we have done on it. I think we stopped counting at trailor load #10 of garbage that we have hauled away from our house. We keep thinking that we are finished, but then we start again! Good thing we enjoy it. The last picture is of the garage that we are adding and you can kind of make out the mud room in the back of the garage. That will eventually be connected to the kitchen!!!

Merry Christmas!!

2007-12-14T22:03:00.000-08:00

Hello! I think I am figuring this blogging thing out! Who knows! We have been having fun visiting Christmas villages with the girls and we even got to build a few snowmen last weekend when it snowed! I thought I would post some of the cute girls and snowmen!

Hike to the "B"

2007-09-22T12:15:00.000-07:00

We took the girls to the "B" today!