latest & greatest...

Here's a little taste of the latest and greatest at our house this week...

Baby Dean is getting cuter and cuter by the minute! He got his first two teeth this week and he is dying to start crawling...oh goodie, I can't wait!

Spring Ballet Recital!

You would NOT believe the hoopla that surrounded this recital! Brielle's class was 'act no. 19', in the first half of the recital...it started at 7 and the first half ended at about 8:30! Are you kidding me? Luckily we were able to leave at intermission...but imagine if she'd have been in the second half! My neighbor stayed to the end and she said it ended at almost 11pm! I will not even go into the fact that we had to be there an hour early to get in line to get seats (the high school auditorium was full by 6:45...and it is a huge auditorium!) or the fact that she had 'extra' rehearsals 4 times the week before the performance...she's only 3! However, she does look adorable in her costume and she was SO cute on stage!My amazing husband is almost done....he did the entire hardwood floor in one day...all by himself!

After church today I gave baby Dean a bottle while I went to help Brielle change her clothes, when I came back this is what I found...church is exhausting!

BBV

More projects...

Yet ANOTHER project!

Six months have passed since Chris' last projects (upstairs--laying marble tile in the bathrooms, repainting (2 bedrooms, hall, family room, entry and kitchen) and new carpet and baseboards)...which means that it is time for another project (FYI--it has been 1 year since he finished our basement...a small 1500 sq. ft. project...he's nuts!).

Background Info: We used to have our dining room on the other side of the wall of cabinets in the picture below, but ever since we 'traded' piano's with my parents (our upright for their grand)...the dining room table lost its spot. We did not like the table their anyway because it was on carpet, and I LOVE having my piano...growing up, it was the 'friend' I spent the most time with. :) Anyway, we moved our office downstairs when we finished the basement and moved the table into the office...which was connected to kitchen and leads to the garage. It was the most awkward L shaped room...you could not even sit at the table because it was too tight.

Now, Chris has opened up the doorway and connected the kitchen to the room and moved the laundry room along the back wall (instead of the laundry/1/2 bath combo room...we'll have a BIG laundry room with lots of storage space). I'm still trying to figure out why the people who built the house did not put the bathroom/laundry room along the back wall...why create a weird L shaped room? I don't get it? I'm SO SO SO excited for this project to be done (not just because it has been going on for more than a month now and my ENTIRE house has been covered in dusty stuff (no matter how many times I dust...he does something else and there is a new layer) but because it makes our kitchen/dining area huge! Maybe I'll even start cooking dinner!

NOTE: You might be thinking..."Wow, Chris must not have to work very much if he has time to do all these projects"...but that is not the case ...we opened up a new store (The Italian Place) in Lindon last summer and we're opening another store in the next few weeks in Spanish Fork...and he does a lot of the construction himself (framing, painting, baseboards, doors etc...) He is just a crazy person that cannot sit still and do nothing! Yesterday he painted all day in Spanish Fork, then came home and painted until 1am in the dining room! He is amazing! He got this work ethic from his father (who catches the train at 5 or 6am to DC, then takes the subway, bus and walks to get to work everyday...all in all it is at least a 2 hour commute each way...and has been the Stake President for almost a decade! Amazing!). I might complain a little about the dust and all the mess but, I am so lucky to have such a busy body for a husband! I'll post more when he finishes!

Chris thought it would be fun to ask Brielle to help him put on the primer yesterday, she was thrilled to get to paint! After 20 minutes, Chris was asking her if she was done yet...because he was having to follow her around and paint over everything she did before it dried funky! She kept telling him 'No daddy, we have lots more painting to do!" Her favorite part was 'dipping her brush in the paint' which included ALOT of swirling of the brush!

Cutie Pies!

My mom and I decided this week that we needed to get the kids pictures taken in their Easter outfits...unfortunately my favorite photographer (http://www.camilynne.com/) moved to Florida and I did not have it together enough to schedule pictures with her when she was visiting last month...so we went to a studio we'd been to before and had decent success (as opposed to the 'other place' that I strongly dislike because they only give you 6 poses to choose from!!!). Anyway, they did a pretty good job...there were some really cute ones...and a couple of hideous ones with TERRIBLE fake flowers and milk crates...I told her I'm not really 'in to props' ...but she thought we should just try it for a couple....needless to say, we did not purchase any of them! Obviously the lighting on these is 'less then ideal...since these are pictures of pictures sitting on my counter top and stove! But, you get the picture...

I wanted to have a big picture of Baby Dean to hang next to this big picture of Baby Brielle -- both at 6 months old. My cousin (mentioned above) took the one of Brielle and it is FANTASTIC, she did some cool photo shop stuff. But. I also love this picture of baby Dean...he is such a cutie! His head looks huge...it is not 'quite' that huge, but it is pretty big!


Are you kidding me? I love this picture because he looks like such a little man!

Easter Egg Hunt!

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter Sunday! Brielle and Dean looked so adorable! I told Chris to take some pictures of Brielle before we left for church and he claims that she did all these 'poses' on her own (no coaching), she is quite the little performer! We went to my parents after church for dinner and an Easter Egg Hunt...Brielle had SO much fun...there were enough eggs hidden for 10 kids, and she was the only one. We will probably be finding eggs in their yard for the rest of the year!

Peek-a-boo Valentine

I thought I would post a picture of our famous Peek-a-boo Valentine from 2005! I am THRILLED to hear that atleast 3 of you still have them because you have NO IDEA how many hours I put into them! Oh.....those were the days when I had hours and hours to do random things... Happy Valentines Day!

Sunday Fun!!!

Baby Dean was ready for his 'Sailing Day' Photo Shoot before church! He looks so cute cross eyed...if I do say so myself!
We picked up this little 'Mailbox kit' at Target and Brielle got to put all the foam stickers on it...then she could not wait to put some of the Valentines that she's made (with her Nana) inside. She was so excited to have her own mailbox that she wanted to sleep with it right next to her!
My 3 (not so) little Valentines...have you ever seen such adorable smiles!?