Priceful Memories

Thursday, October 20, 2011

The Disney Castle House

We embarked on a new adventure this year! With our friends Mike and Anna, we bought a house in Anaheim, California as a vacation rental. We did some remodeling and repainting, decorated it Disney and listed it on vrbo.com with high hopes, but uncertain about the future. So far it is going great!

We couldn't have done all the remodeling that was required without the help of our families. Anna's parents came down before us and got started. We met them there and began painting, repairing, replacing, etc. The worked tirelessly and did SO much. My dad came down and re-tiled the living room. My sister pained the Castle mural on the wall for us and my mom watched our kids for days. Mike's parents watched their kids and then Anna's parents watched them. What amazing families we have! After two weeks of FULL days on the house - a week longer than we'd planned - (including $1K trips to Walmart and Home Depot, etc.) we were done and ready to rent it out! We are SO proud of our Disney-themed home!

Shopping for Disney stuff at Costco

Me and Anna refinishing the kitchen counters

Anna with the almost finished product

Anna painting the Cars bedroom dresser

Anna's dad Lee painting the cabinets

Anna's mom Earlene painting the bathroom

Tal & Mike flew in on the bookend weekends - first to pick up furniture, second to work on the house. Yep, we did it backwards

Mike & Tal grouting the tile together that my dad put down

And putting up the TV together

Putting up the Tangled mural - TEAMWORK

Putting up the Toy Story mural

The kids enjoying the house together

Jay & Kelsey watching a movie together

Aiden & Amaya watching a movie together

Jay & Aiden playing in the Cars room

Jay & Kelsey with Mickey & Minnie on the front porch

Cute kids on the front porch - Amaya just didn't want to have her picture taken

Kids reading with Kristin

Celebration Cake! We had cake to celebrate our completion of Castle One renovations (for now)

Big hugs for Minnie

LOVE Aiden's face in this one! Rapunzel is letting down her hair

K & A were Rapunzel and Flynn for Halloween this year

Here are the pictures of the actual house

Front of the house

Pool area

Outside balcony

The kitchen

Below is what the kitchen looked like before!

Dining room and map wall

Below is the BEFORE of the dining room

Living Room

Castle Mural by Julia

TV Room

Aloha Mickey Master Bedroom

Aloha Mickey Master Bathroom (en-suite)

Ariel bathroom

Cars Bedroom

The dresser that Anna painted

Anna made the wall flags - so cute!

Tinkerbell Bedroom

Anna painted the big leaves - she's great at it!

The part of the Tink room I painted. Doesn't look like much but it took forever!

Toy Story Playroom

Castle Bunk and Tangled Mural (upstairs)

Princess Bed (in same bedroom as Castle Bunk)

Mickey Mouse Master (upstairs)

Though it was probably the craziest, most stressful 10 days or so of my life, we learned a lot and had fun in the process. We are thrilled with the way it turned out. We are very lucky things are going so well! You can see our website by clicking here or on VRBO.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Baby #3

We're so excited to announce that baby # THREE is a GIRL!! She's due February 8th. Kelsey has been telling me, "mom, it's a girl, I PROMISE." I guess she knew something I didn't. In the ultrasound, she told the tech, "that's my baby sister, Marissa." What do you think her name should be!?

She FINALLY let us have a look at her gender

That's the leg that's been pushing on my bladder!! Actually, she's pretty nice to me and seems less active than the first two.

HI family!!

Here's Tal and the kids watching the ultrasound on TV! Too cute!

We're so excited about our newest family member!!

Kelsey Speaks

April 14: Advertising works, even for kids. Kels just came up to me with my iPhone and the app "Team Umizoomi" ready to purchase. I asked her how she knew about it and she said, "this mom put team umizoomi on for her kids and it teached her kids and he did it all by himself!" I've seen that commercial too, but never realized how much she soaked in! I'm a sucker, I downloaded it.

March 14:

We were having a new babysitter come and Kelsey wanted her to play a game but wasn't sure she'd know how. "What language does she speak?" I said, "English." Kels said, "Oh no!" I said, "Kelsey, did you know that YOU speak English?" She looked surprised, "I do!?"

October 17:

We had our carpet pad replaced today and the carpet guy was using a heavy duty iron that smelled like burning. Kelsey came in and said, "Mom, is that dinner I smell?" Thanks Kels, thanks. Says a lot about my cooking!

October 11:

So I'm on the phone and the Kelsey does soemthing that makes Aiden cry. I tell Kelsey, PLEASE make it better, say your sorry and make him stop crying. She starts singing, "Flower gleam and glow, let your power shine, make the clock reverse, bring back what once was mine..." I started cracking up. I think she's a little too obsessed with Tangled.

February 19:
Family prayer
"Thank you that Aiden is incredible and that he could watch Incredibles with me. And thank you that mommy can change things."

February 9:
Family prayer tonight by Kelsey: "Thank you that mommy could be a good listener (?), thank you that mommy can be so stretchable...in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen." I laughed and asked her what stretchable meant. She said it meant that I can read Aiden books and change his diaper, put us to bed, play with us, and wiggle us and throw us, stuff like that. Does that mean she's grateful I can do mommy stuff?

January 5:
While at my mom's house in California, she said, "I want to stay at Mimi's forever!" I asked, what about your toys and our home in Utah?" She replied, "I like Mimi's toys downstairs." "But what about your friends back in Utah?" She replied, "they can get in the car and drive really, really far and come see me!" She has it all figured out.

January 4, 2011:
Tally read aloud a sign as we passed a church, "Jesus is making a list." She said, "No, Santa is making a list, and checking it twice."

December 20:
She was sad after I scolded her for taking her brother's food. I asked her why she was sad and she said, "My life hurts right now."
"With Christmas just a few days away?" I said. She perked right up.

December 13:
Tal was going to bed early and we all jumped in bed to give him hugs and say goodnight. Kelsey said, "I like it when our whole family is in bed together. Dad, you're hot. But I like it hot. You're the hottest."

December 9:
I had made a big effort to go to the gym and literally had 30 minutes to work out and then be back before everyone came over for play group. I get Kelsey out of the car and walk around to get Aiden. Kelsey says, "Mom, you can't wear THOSE shoes to the gym!" I looked down and sure enough, I was wearing my Crocs. I'm so glad she saw it before I'd gotten Aiden out of his car seat, gotten the kids checked into day care, and stepped on the treadmill. 10 points for trying, right?

October 22:
"Mom, I don't wanna have a baby in my tummy. I don't want to have a baby doggy come out."

October 3:
"Mom, you shut up and I'll shut down." (playing around with the word shut up to get a reaction from me).

September 30:
"Aiden, you have pretty eyebrows."
August 15
While sitting in our master bathroom, Kelsey said, "You guys have two sinks."
Us: "Yes, we have two sinks, isn't that nice?"
K: "No, I don't like it, you need to take one out. I need more room to sit."
Tal: "When you get married, you can have one sink in your bathroom."
K: "When I marry Aiden?" (who she said she wanted to marry when we were talking about weddings the day before).
Tal: "You can't marry Aiden, he's your brother."
K: "I want to marry DADDY!"
Jess: "He's mine, darlin. Daddy is already married to mommy."
K: "My cousins?"
Us: (Laugh, gave up...we'll have this talk one day when she's ready) She is constantly playing with my bouquet of silk flowers in my room and saying, "I'm getting married mom." I guess she picked that up on her own...I don't think I've ever talked about the flowers with her!

August 11:
As I'm putting her to bed I said, "Kelsey, your little body is so tired because you didn't take a nap today and little bodies need naps."
"And sometimes big bodies do too?" she said.
After the gym today, we caught her doing her hand clasp thing. Tally said, "Don't do that, you're doing it so hard you're getting sweaty."
She replied, firmly, "Well I just back from the gym." (which is true, but she was at the play place at the gym)
May
(While shutting herself inside the kitchen pantry)
K: Alright Aiden, I'm going bye-bye to Lily's house, 2 seconds, and when I come back, I'm going to Zoe's house. Okay? Okay, see ya later.
(about 2 seconds later, she opens the door)
K: Oh, hi Zoe's house!
She has been cracking me up (mixed with a little worry) with her imagination. If you ask her what she did today, she'll say she played with her cousins. We don't play with cousins everyday, but she does, in her imaginary play. She'll tell Libby and Zoe to come downstairs to the playroom or come outside with her. Then I'll hear her telling one of them to go hide or that this doll is for them or that they are nice. She will also throw in Lily and Edie, and an occasional Colton, Carter or Spencer. But that's more rare. Maybe because she sees them the most? Or because they are boys.
She also loves to pretend she's mommy and I'm Kelsey. She'll ask me, "is your pee-pees coming, mommy?" (No, is yours?) She'll also say, "you want a treat Kelsey? Okay. " Or my favorite, "You go in time out mommy, no-no." When I ask what I did wrong she'll say it's because I hit Aiden. Shocking.
She is also such a good sister. When I was reading my friend Mary's blog today who just lost her baby girl and bawling, she came over and gave me a big hug and said, "it's okay mommy." Then, because I wasn't paying attention to the fact that Aiden had run out of Cheerios and was "asking" for more, she fed him her Cheerios. Then she came up to me and said, "mommy, Aiden wants more Cheerios." She's a great little mommy.
5/?- (while Tal is at work)
K: Mom, I want to tell dad I had fun at the doctor today - daddy, I had fun at the doctor today - oh you did - yeah, dr. M was really nice. Yeah? Yeah.
She has little conversations with herself as she imagines the conversation she had or will have. These crack me up. She does it all the time, I just need to remember to write them down.
5/29 -
K: Mom, don't let Swiper come swipe our new house, okay?
M: Okay, I will. I'll tell him, Swiper no swiping, okay?
K: Yeah!
She's on this kick where she says "everytime" or "everday" with almost every sentence. I guess she's learning how to tell time/days?
She also sings all the time, usually "I am a Child of God." How can I ever get mad at that sweet little thing?
February 1, 2010
J: "Kelsey, get up on the stool so we can wash your hands."
K: "Mommy, you need to pull my pants up first."
J: "Okay, sorry"
K: "You don't need to say sorry mami."
She's been saying sorry to EVERYTHING and so I think she's heard that a lot lately from me. It's funny to hear your own words come from the mouths of your little ones.
January 28, 2010
K: "I want to be baptized."
J: "You do? How old are you?"
K: "TWO! Aiden wants to be baptized too."
J: "You have to be 8 to be baptized."
K: "Oh, I EIGHT!"
A little boy was baptized last Sunday and she started noticing it more in her books about Jesus and we talked about it a few times this week. But the subject hadn't come up this day - she said it out of the blue.

Thursday, October 20, 2011

The Disney Castle House

Thursday, September 15, 2011

Baby #3

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