Snow!

It snowed in Frisco!
The kids were thrilled! Unfortunately, school was NOT cancelled.




The snow melted before they came home :(

Drool

This kid was so worn out!! The ranch just gets these kids SOOO tired - Aaron especially!
On the way home, I glanced back and noticed him drooling...
WOW!

Thanksgiving

We flew back to Houston for Thanksgiving! We landed Wed. afternoon
The rejects of the Robinson clan (those who didnt go to Aruba, Idaho, Utah or wherever for the feast) hung out at the Ranch.
Dan & Richelle & family
Mary & Bradberry family
Christine & Woodrome family
Joe & us...

Nobody really wanted to mess with cooking, or leftovers, or dishes, or all that... so we went to Golden Corral for the Thanksgiving feast! It worked out perfect! They had the whole Thanksgiving spread, with pizza and french fries available for the kiddos. I didn't even get food poisoning!

Better news was that our house sold! We got the call that morning from our realtor... YAY!!! We just have to sign and then hopefully everything will work out! They want us out before Christmas... so it will be another year that I don't decorate... Oh well... looks like I'm moving in with my parents!





Funny... our anniversary fell on Thanksgiving this year! We both kindof forgot... well, Joe remembered. We both had a good time talking about our favorite memories... 10 years together!!! WOW! PLUS, our house sold! PLUS we didn't have to do any dishes! It was a Thanksgiving MIRACLE!

House Hunting!

So, before Joe starts his new job in Utah, we had to go on a house hunting trip! Christine was kind enough to watch our kiddos. It was a fun trip! Jeff so happened to be there visiting Michelle's family for Thanksgiving, so we hung out with him and Sam and Stephen in our non-realtor time. Of course, we had to raid the breadsticks at Pizza Factory in Provo. It was COLD! But I think I could grow to love the mountains!!!


I think we found the house though!! Seeing as our house has been on the market 2 whole weeks, I'm kindof getting nervous! I hope our house sells! I hope we can buy a house in UT! I think we'll have time to wait for this one though...

New Moon!

Of course, I had to go to the midnight showing!
Carieanne, Ruth and I met up and went to the double feature (Rerun of Twilight, and then the premiere showing at midnight of New Moon).
It was so fun! I am cheesy and LOVED the movie!
I already had tickets for the next day, so I went with my neighbor (Nancy Jetton) and some other fun ladies for the 10am show. I would see it again too! ;)

This is Carieanne and I looking our midnight best! I love her!

again...

I was looking through our Christmas card poems from the last couple years. One constant is Joe and his ever changing job...
Last year, our Christmas card poem was a joke - making fun of certain things about ourselves. Rather than saying what we have been up to, it just listed off things we hope to be able to say "next year" (this year)...

One of those things was having Joe stay at the same occupation.

Well.
Joe gave his 2 weeks notice at Dr Pepper last Friday. He will be starting A NEW JOB in UTAH the day after Thanksgiving.
WHAT????
ya.

Seriously, we just bought this house (11 months ago). I just spent the last 3 months painting it and making it feel like "home". I had just gotten my family history wall up (complete with pictures of parents, grand parents, great grandparents and even great great grandparents).

Anyways, 2 weeks ago, Joe came home saying he thought Utah was beautiful, and there was a job opportunity there. In my head, I thought "whatever! enjoy your free trip to UT" (blowing it off as an impossibility)... but apparently, he was serious. We are now relocating!

So, last week, I kicked it into high gear to finish up all my projects (the ones Joe was calling disastrous). I finished painting the trim in the kids' bedrooms. I painted Charity's walls. I made drapes for the kids rooms. I cleaned out and staged all the closets. I finished painting the bathroom cabinets. I made "artwork". We built a "headboard". We cleaned out the flowerbeds and planted flowers. Thanks to my mom and dad and Cherry who came over Saturday to hang a million pictures and help clean and organize and help!!! 2 hours of their time saved me a week of stress and labor!!! THANKS!!!

Now, I must say I am pretty proud of the way the house turned out. I only hope someone comes and sees it and then wants to buy it!!!
This was the house when we bought it... built-in appliances were ripped out. Lighting was ripped out. The colors were ALL WRONG!!! Now, in a lot of homes, this color scheme (tan trim/white walls) works... but not here - notice orange tile. Also notice the brown carpet throughout the home. The trim gave off a pink reflection - it was really WRONG. Would have been nice if I knew I was going to move though... I would have left the bad color scheme for someone else to deal with.
I never got the landscaping I wanted... good thing. I was this close to laying stone around and getting more bushes and trees... oh well. At least it looks presentable.
This is my pretty entry. I hired some people to paint the walls and trim of the whole house. They got the unreachable parts (some required 3 levels of scaffolding) but then, unfortunately, I had to fire them (4 days of them only working 4 hrs a day... dripping paint everywhere... ruining my wood floor). I was left to paint all the rest of the walls and trim... 2 staircases... all the baseboards. 29 doors... nightmare.
I DO love the 13' ceilings in my piano room. We had to put in the lighting (that was ripped out), and I painted the walls and trim.
This is my music picture - a collage of all my favorite songs. It broke a while ago... now it doesn't have glass. But it still works!!! Cost? 0$. The frame was inherited from some other ugly picture. I printed out my favorite songs on regular printer paper, crumpled them up, put leftover wood stain on it (from the home made kitchen bench) then glued them all together. I had this in my old house. But, I still love it!
My kitchen... the color is a slate... trying to tone down the ORANGE tile/brown carpet combo. Does it work? ;) It looks so much better than the pink khaki trim in that mix...
Before and after of the family room.
Oh, here's another free art project. Leftover plywood from the headboard. I printed out a photoshop brush and then essentially copied it in larger form with white acrylic paint (all paint I had lying around). Then, I stapled an old bed skirt to cover the ugly plywood edge. Free. Ugly, but it fills the niche, and did I mention I spent all of 20 mins on it and it was free?
Upstairs bathroom - notice nice brown cabinets... fun story... I'll post it sometime.

Office. We painted it BYU blue. Then they lost. Still, it is a nice man cave (where I am welcome to park my laptop so long as I don't leave too much of a mess). I am already breaking rules - notice cups, papers, and my daughter's art project cluttering up the desk?
Here is the 37$ king size headboard. 11$ on plywood. 6$ on 1x2s. 20$ batting. The quilt we used came with the bed in a bag (sunk cost when we bought the bed last year)... my kids got some crazy stain on the bottom of it... so, it was the perfect thing to use! ;)
The room really is big... and it looks so much better with out the pink khaki trim clashing with the brown carpet. It also looks great with a light in the ceiling rather than a gaping hole where someone lovingly ripped the old fixture out.
I never got around to painting these cabinets or walls. I dont think I will.

Guest room. Simple. Our office used to be down here, but it is nicer to see a nice bed rather than a dirty office when you walk into my house.
This is the bathroom off the kitchen/guest room BEFORE and AFTER. Dark cabinets make all the difference.


This WAS my family history wall. I had pictures of all of my grandparents and great grandparents. I also had Joe's side represented - even with a photos dating to 1897. I LOVED this wall. I got it done only 3 weeks before Joe came home and told me we were moving. The realtor told me to take it down. I just printed off pictures of flowers and beaches (on my home black and white printer on regular cheap copy paper). That works right? ;) Again - free project. I couldn't print an 11x14, so I just printed out strips on velum and put those together on top of scrapbook paper. I couldn't think of a better quote to put in it. I dont think it matters. I'm just sad I had to hide the great pictures of my family.
Before and after... Home made valences. Home made table and bench. I painted the stairs and the walls. Joe put the lights in.
Charity wanted her room painted green. Glad I never got around to doing that! I did paint her walls the house color and her trim... The previous owner left lots of nice fingernail polish marks all over...
Her window treatment cost 5$ for the rod from walmart, and $3.75 in fabric (3 yards of toole). The material behind it is leftover scrap of bed skirt (very useful that old bedskirt!!!) and the ribbons were left over from a project in my old house. Total cost? 8.75$
This room was even easier than Charity's room. I didn't paint their walls, but I painted their trim. The fabric was on sale at Joann's and I spent 6$ total on 2 yards. (I could have bought less, but I have enough to make throw pillows now). They had a broken curtain rod already installed in their room (courtesy of the previous owner). I took the 1 remaining finial off and pushed the fabric all the way to the wall... 6$ window... perfect! ;)
Yummy chocolate bathroom cabinets... Charity's bathroom looks the same...

Halloween!

This year, for Halloween, we went to Cherry's house! It was so much fun to trick-or-treat with cousins!
We even made sure to swing by and visit some old friends from our Keller days!
I took Aaron to a haunted house... it was pretty scary! Chain saw guy got me to trip over myself! Aaron thought it was a hoot!
What a great Halloween!

3 musketeers...

Charity recently got the Barbie and the 3 Musketeers movie. Ever since, her, Aaron and Nate have been "training" really hard. She already has a balance beam taped off in her room, so they practice leaping on it and sparring with their Nerf swords. They practice the different sword moves they see in the movie. They throw the swords at home-made targets on the wall... It is quite cute!

Well, Aaron decided he wanted to be a Ninja and NOT a Musketeer.

The next day, I found these taped from the toyroom, to the hall, and leading to Charity's door:

I love her spelling... I love how she is trying to exclude Aaron.
I love how she has directions poYnting to where her bedroom door is located.

It was complete with a sign-in sheet.
Joe and I signed in. She gave us a tour of all the stations she had set up. OH MY GOSH my kids are sooooo adorable!

Painting Disaster

Here's and update on the progress of my painting project.

Oh MY GOSH my house is too big. I hate it. I needed help! So, I went and found some workers painting a house still getting built in my neighborhood. I asked them to come look and tell me what it would cost for them to come do the things I couldn't reach (like the 2 story walls, and the moulding that is 25 feet high etc.)
They came and started. The 2 guys came for a few hours, painted a little bit, then left. They got one room (walls and trim) done the first day, then it took 2 days for them to paint the walls and trim of my 2 story entry way (they actually used 3 scaffolding levels, so i guess it was pretty intense)... but they dripped paint all over my wood floors. They used lacquer remover to get it off. My beautiful wood floors were all spotted. I was LIVID! They came back again and again and worked maybe 3 hours a day and went SOOOO unbelievably slowly. One guy painted doors (got about 5 done) and the other guy did the walls. After 5 days of them being lazy and pathetic, and ruining my wood floors, I fired them. The high stuff was done, and I couldn't stomach paying those guys any more money. I paid them half of what we agreed (although they might not have even finished half of what we agreed to having them accomplish). Then, I started doing the project by myself. I painted all day every day. 4300 sq feet of walls. and trim, a MILLION doors and 2 staircases... I found a guy at the gym who was willing to help for 10 bucks an hour. He helped me do the walls and trim of 3 rooms - made things go SO much more quickly!
I FINALLY finished. It was the biggest pain. I never wanted to pick up a paint brush again. I didn't even do my laundry room or media room (although I did paint the doors to those rooms).
After about a month of solid work, my trim was FINALLY an ivory color (matching my ceilings) and my walls were a sand color... 26 gallons of paint...

The next week, I woke up, and suddenly couldn't stand my bathroom cabinets anymore. They were that same ugly khaki color, and it just didn't look right.
So, feeling like I knew the paint staff at Home Depot to be competent, (heck, I had been in there almost every day for a month buying more paint!) I took off a cabinet door and brought it to them. I asked all the right questions, like, what kind of paint is on this? What kind of paint do I need to use to paint over it?
New guy: "oh that's interesting, your cabinets are already painted with a latex - you can just paint over that with any latex paint color you choose".

Day 1: paint guest bath upstairs with the chocolate brown latex paint. Feel so good about myself. That was QUICK! Those cabinets look AMAZING! What an improvement! Begin painting the boys' side of the jack-and-jill bathroom.

Day 2: paint starts falling off cabinets. RRRRGGHHH. Maybe I should have primed them? Sand cabinets. prime cabinets. decide to prime Charity's side of the jack-and-jill and also prime guest bath downstairs... feel pretty confident - finish painting all those cabinets the chocolate brown latex. Looks pretty good... feeling good too.


Day 3: let paint dry

Day 4: paint peels off the primer. WHAT???? It wont even stick to the primer????? ARRRGGHHHHH!! Tears. Go to Home Depot. Complain and demand to talk to someone competent. They were baffled that the paint didn't stick to the primer. They replaced my paint with an oil based paint. They replaced brushes and gave me more sandpaper. Start sanding

Day 5: still sanding/scraping off paint from cabinets. Tears. Frustration. Joe tells me it is a disaster. He is right.

Day 6: Go out of town.

Day 9: Come home. Finish sanding/scraping. prime cabinets. (a MILLION doors, drawers and facings!!!) Oil based coat 1.

Day 10: Oil based coat 2... for some reason, 3 cabinet faces have paint that bubbles. OH MY GOSH. I AM GOING TO KILL MYSELF! I HATE THIS STUPID PROJECT! Walk away. let paint dry.

Day 11: Decide perfection is not an option. Leave bubbles. re-hang cabinets and put in drawers. Start and finish master bath room cabinets.

Day 12: Sand down bubbles. prime/paint and it is ok.

Day 13: I vow to not pick up another painting project for a LONG time.

Yes, it looks SOOOO much better now. Unfortunately, it was also disaster. I think if I ever want to change cabinet color again, I will pay someone to do it.

A trip to UTAH!

Well, Joe and I needed some R&R, so we joined our old friends (the Votaws) and took a trip to UTAH! They live in Arizona, and we met up in Kelly's family condo in Sandy. We've had lots of fun memories with them! We hung out a lot while dating/engaged... Then, they got married a week after we did. Dave was Joe's roommate in college. We LOVE those guys! We had so much fun just hanging out together so many years later. We walked around our old BYU stompin' grounds... even went to the spot Joe and I fell in love (the Eyring Science Center). This was where our single's ward met. This was where we met for the first time, and he invited himself over for Sunday dinner (pop tarts). This was where it all began in the early months of 1999.

The campus has changed quite a bit! It was fun to walk around the Talmage (where both Joe and I spent the majority of our time in CS classes and math and statistics). We even walked around to the testing center (which hasn't changed so much). We could smell it - the fear - the stink hasn't changed!

The highlight of the trip was the BYU vs TCU game. ESPN College GameDay was hosting there, so it was pretty hyped up. Joe, being the awesome Dr. Pepper employee worked his contacts with the marketing department and got us (the Votaws and Dan Liddle - the biggest BYU fan ever) back stage passes to be able to see the Dr. Pepper hosted BCS National Championship trophy. It was pretty neat. We got to watch behind the scenes of the broadcast. We got to go into the bus and see where the "talent" hangs out. We got to take pictures with the trophy and with Chris Fowler, Lee Corso, and Kirk Herbstriet.

Me, Joe, and the Dr. Pepper trophy...

Kelly, Dave, Chris Fowler, Me, Lee Corso, Joe, Dan Liddle & Kirk Herbstriet.

Unfortunately, the GameDay activities became the highlight of the day. At the actual game, we and the Votaws sat next to Owen and Alyssa so that was fun. However, BYU was stomped on pretty hard by TCU. It was ugly. We had to even leave early because it was so ugly. Another year, another matchup... another time BYU fans leave the stadium with heads hung low and tails between their legs. :(
At least hanging out with the Votaws was FUN!!! Hope to see them a LOT more often!