The WAY overdue update...

So I figured with all the pictures I just added, maybe I'd better do a quick written update of our lives. I'll start with the kids...Carter is 4 years old now, just had a birthday in January. I did take pictures of it but I'm thinking they're still on my camera, so one day I'll get those on here too. He is not doing preschool or anything like that yet, but we do school work at home. He is such a happy fun kid. He is loving nintendo right now and loves playing with his cousins. Chloe is 7 years old and is in 2nd grade. She loves school. She is also in a dance class, along with her cousin Kierra. She loves to dance and I think she'll continue that for a while. Chris is working at Simplot, as he has for about 4 years now. He's planning some backpacking trips this summer, really enjoying that hobby right now, along with mountain biking. I am working part time as a PT Assistant, 2 days a week, and am home the other days. I really like that schedule....just enough time away, but plenty of good mom time. We recently bought a new house, still in Pocatello, but on the other side of town. It is much bigger, with a nice large yard. It is an older home, built in 1974, with some good room for updating. I will post some pics too. We replaced the carpet and painted before moving in, and have plans to redo the kitchen and update the bathrooms, along with making some changes to the basement family room...all in good time. The yard is big and I'm looking forward to spring time when I can really start making it look nice. We still have our first house and plan to rent it out rather than sell it right now.

PS...when I look at my blog it has some weird box from photo bucket that follows along when I scroll down. If you see that too and have any idea how to get rid of it...let me know! If you don't see it..thats good too.

I just wanted to post some of my all time favorite pictures of my kids. They're all just random shots..but I love them! (I know its a lot of pictures...but I could't narrow it down any more than this)

Fishing trip

Chris took the kids fishing at Murphy Lake this past summer. I had to work so I didn't get to be there, but they sure had a good time. I'm glad they got such a good experience with their dad :)

Here is a pic of the lake.

Carter with his very first fish! He is so adorable!

Richard and I'm not really sure what...

Chris and Carter, at Grandma Heiner's house.

Chloe with Grandma Heiner. They got to go stay one night with her and they sure enjoyed that.

New family photos

We had some new family photos taken...they turned out pretty good. My step-dad's dad took them at his house in the backyard and I think they look great. Got some good ones of the whole bunch of us and some good ones of our little family.

Our little family

Chloe and Carter

Here's the whole bunch of us...except for my brother Tyler, brother in law Jason, and step brother Jason, who couldn't be there.

Chloe's 7th Birthday

Chloe's 7th birthday was a blast! She had so much fun, and so did the other kids. I had Amber's 3 kids for a couple days/nights before Chloe's birthday. The 5 kids had so much fun together. We spent some time at the park, and I took them all to party palace shopping for stuff for the party. We got all this fun beach themed stuff and the kids absolutely loved it. Chloe picked out a beach ball pinata, drink cups and everything. They put together little gift bags and just had a great time.

My beautiful 7 year old girl :)

Chloe with her brother, Carter, and cousins, Claire, Kierra, Brock and Rhett...at the kids table eating pulled pork sandwiches, chips and salad...and of course enjoying their beach ball drinks.

Chloe's main present...a scooter. This is what she really wanted :)

Chloe with her cake. I've made one like it for her a few years back, but she wanted it again. To go with the beach theme. So its a pool party cake...complete with jello pool and swim suit clad teddy grahams.

The kids had a blast with the pinata.

Playing at the park. Chloe is quite a little climber...which is kind of strange since she seems to be afraid of most things (water, you name it) but she loves to climb. And look at those skinny little legs...so cute :)

Chloe and Kierra (aka her BFF...those 2 are inseperable)

Rhett, Brock and Carter playing at the park.

More after pics...

The dining room coffer ceiling (don't mind the one remaining snow flake hanging there)

Columns and wainscot around the dining room

The brick arch between the living room and kitchen.

And finally the view of the front of the house. Looks like a totally different house right? Thats kind of the point :) Our first "flip".

After pics of the first house we bought...

Here are the "after" pics of our house. I didn't take nearly as many before pics because it was just so ugly. Like the bathroom...I wish I had gotten a picture of it before. It was pretty bad. But at least you can see what it all looks like now.

The new kitchen. New cabinets, countertops, appliance, flooring...everything really.

Another view of the kitchen. We put brick around the archway there but you can't see it in this one. I'll put a pic up on the next one of it.

Chris did the tile in the shower...very nice. It was just an old plastic surround before, with a very large window (with blinds...not a good place for a window) there before. Very good improvement.

The new sinks/vanities. I love these...love the clean look. There's just the one bathroom in this house so the 2 sinks did help.

View of the living room from the kitchen. Looking towards the front door. About half of that is the new addition. We redid walls, floor, ceiling...pretty much everything again. The bamboo flooring runs through almost the entire house, with the exception of the bathroom and laundry room, which are travertine tile.