The Color-ful Party

Saturday was Tianna's Party with her cousins in Price.  To go with the Colof-able Castle, her grandparent's gave her a white board/chalk board easel.  

 Mommy's part preparations for her party included making these TO DIE FOR CUPCAKES! seriously, my mouth is watering thinking of their deliciousness.  Not to mention, all the colorfulness made them simply adorable! Tianna helped me frost them with bright pink frosting with a rainbow of colored sprinkles.

 When her party goers got here we first painted fingernails with a variety of colors (and stickers) and then out came the face painting.  We had no idea how INTO it Grandpa would get.  It was pure awesomeness! He became the #1 painter... and paintee! Almotst everyone ended up with "grandpa's eye lashes"

 Funny thing is, this was ONLY the beginning of his artful face

 Tianna wanted a rainbow, a princess walking to a castle, and a crown.  Um... how about a stick figure girl and NO castle? Thank you.

 Even Luke let us perddy him up!

 Check out those lashes!

 Present time

 Cake Time!

No doubt her wish was "To go to Disneyland" since that is her wish on EVER star EVERY time she sees one

  

Mmmmmmmmmm more yumminess.

We Have a 5 Year Old?!?!

Wow. We cannot believe our little baby is now 5 years old! What would our life be like without our Little Sparkler?! She is such a joy in our lives and although she is a very strong personality child, which, yes, gives us grief a lot of the time... that same strong personality is one of her very best features most of the time. She knows what she wants and she does not deviate! She is very loving and caring and boy, is she smart! She craves learning and is far beyond her age in so many areas.  She's a great big sister who gets along really well with her little sister and takes good care of her.  We sure love you Tianna, and you are a complete light and joy in our lives.

Well, if you think we celebrated a lot for Luke, check out Tianna's.  Let's just say, PARTAY ON! She was dying to open her present from James and Val that had been sent down a few days early... so by the morning of the 16th, she couldn't stand it any more.  Plus when she woke up she found she had more than just that one sitting on the table.   We let her open up the one she has been tempted by all day but had to wait all day long until Daddy could watch the rest be opened.

 Then she picked her favorite lunch: Little Caesars Pizza

 The whole day was just fun.  We played around, went shopping, and just did (mostly) whatever the birthday girl wanted to do. And I might add, she insisted that i call her "THE BIRTHDAY GIRL" throughout the whole day.
When Daddy finally got home from work we went to Wingers where she got embarrassed when the waitresses and waiters sang to her.

 The waitress was so nice, she offered to take our picture and was so great! Gotta love good service!

When we got home (way late!) she FIIINALLY got to open her presents.  

 Luke gave her this basketball that he, Blake, and Chantel earned with their points from the nicklecade they went to the night before when he stayed up there with them. (saving money.. haha. since they had just eaten sushi before the nicklecade.

Her major surprise from us was the castle.  It is a cardboard playhouse they can play in, color on, and destroy.... then ya just throw it away when you get sick of it. (best type of toy. haha)  

Another House Hunting adventure

Like I said, it had just been one crazy month! After all the busyness of the week before, the next week wasn't anything different.
Still being sad about not getting that house we liked so much, we began searching online again, but this time zeroing in our search to mostly just on Summit Ridge.  We found one on a street we were familiar with (Sageberry) and wondered why we hadn't noticed it before.  But it seemed very similar to the other one, but this one had the basement sheet rocked, unlike the other one.  It just needs texture and paint and carpet, then it will be finished. Plus the backyard was landscaped.  Definite pluses!!!
So we put together a SHORT list of that one and a few other houses we wanted to see whenever James was available.  The next morning I looked again at that house online and found that it had just gotten on the market the night before. That's why we hadn't seen it before in our searches.  I called James immediately and he said, "let's go see it then!" And so......... that afternoon we were back up to Santaquin to see houses.  This time Mom and the girls came with.

Sure enough, it was our favorite and we were ready to put in an offer.  After last time, we were hesitant to wait at all, but since it was only on the market 24 hours we felt okay waiting until the next day.
Within a few days we were UNDER CONTRACT! Wow!!! Things are FINALLY COMING TOGETHER!  We are set to close on both houses in the mid to end of October.  Now just keep your fingers crossed it all goes through!

Luke's Birthday

Back to September :)
With our house finally under contract, Luke and I decided we couldn't think of anything better to do for Luke's birthday then to find a house.  We made a huge list of houses we wanted to see and called up our faithful Realtor, James, and he made the appointments.  The 7th, the day before Luke's 29th, I went up to Payson with him before work.  I hung out with him for a while while waiting for James.  Sadly, Luke had to work, so James and I were on our own.  We looked at 3 before finding THE ONE, but figured we could just go to the rest since we already had the appointments.... and just to make sure.
By lunch, we took Luke back to see that one we found because it was still the fav.  He loved it to! But we finished out our day and looked at a total of 15 houses! It was quite the marathon.
When we were finished we decided we should put in an offer.
We were thrilled! it was a foreclosed home, but fixed up really well and just perfect.  We loved the location (Summit Ridge in Santaquin) and loved the house.
On our way to dinner we got our excited dashed.  It had just gone under contract THAT AFTERNOON! Had we just gone with our gut that morning instead of looking at all the others we probably would have gotten it.

Oh we were sad.  But we made the most of our evening and ate dinner with Blake then we went and saw a movie.
During the movie I kept getting distracted by my disappointment.  But then I determined that God has never let us down before and he wouldn't this time. We could still do a back up offer and maybe get that house, and if not, God would provide and even better one.  I felt very strongly this was true.

We stayed at Blake and Chantel's that night and then I went to work with Luke on Thursday.  It was great being with him on his birthday.  I tried to be invisible while hanging out in his cubicle... but it was fun to see him in action at work.

After spending the entire morning with work with him my mom arrived with the girls.  She had an appointment up North, so it worked out well for us to meet up and then meet up with Luke after work.

We drove up to Summit Ridge again just to rub salt in our wounds. haha. no, to look around and see if any were for sale we had missed.  We pretty much decided that we wanted to live up there, even if we couldn't get that one house on Foot Hill Drive.  

Then it was off to Ruby River for Luke's birthday dinner:

 The next night we went to Castle Dale for birthday celebration with his family

Saturday was a special stake day at the temple.  The kids had activities near the temple, done by the Primary leaders, while the adults got to do a session.  It was wonderful!

 After our session we took our girls around the temple to see it up close.  Come to find out, they already had as part of their activities.  But it doesn't hurt to do it twice, right?

 Our little princesses

 Then Sunday we had yet another birthday party.  Heaven forbid we just celebrate anything once! Haha. But it was Jana's birthday so we did a combined party with her and Luke for my side of the fam.

 She's 32! When did ya get so old Jana? haha. jk!

And Luke is just behind ya at 29!

I made a special little slideshow for Luke but was having a really hard time getting it to work.  It was a slideshow of Luke and his girls fishing and doing other daddy/daughter things.  Meanwhile I played the song "She thinks' We're Just Fishing" by Trace Adkins.  He is such a good daddy and the girls just adore him.  I love that he takes time to go fishing with them and all the other fun things he does.  He's a wonderful husband and wonderful daddy.  WE LOVE YOU LUKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m lost in her there holdin’ that pink rod and reel
She’s doin’ almost everything but sittin’ still
Talkin’ ‘bout her ballet shoes and training wheels
And her kittens
And she thinks we’re just fishin’

I say, “Daddy loves you, baby” one more time
She says, “I know. I think I got a bite.”
And all this laughin’, cryin, smilin’ dyin’ here inside’s
What I call, livin’

And she thinks we’re just fishin’ on the riverside
Throwin’ back what we could fry
Drownin’ worms and killin’ time
Nothin’ too ambitious
She ain’t even thinkin’ ‘bout
What’s really goin’ on right now
But I guarantee this memory’s a big’in
And she thinks we’re just fishin’

She’s already pretty, like her mama is
Gonna drive the boys all crazy
Give her daddy fits
And I better do this every chance I get
‘Cause time is tickin’
(Yeah it is)

And she thinks we’re just fishin’ on the riverside
Throwin’ back what we could fry
Drownin’ worms and killin’ time
Nothin’ too ambitious
She ain’t even thinkin’ ‘bout
What’s really goin’ on right now
But I guarantee this memory’s a big’in
And she thinks we’re just fishin’

She ain’t even thinkin’ ‘bout
What’s really goin’ on right now
But I guarantee this memory’s a big’in
And she thinks we’re just fishin’
Yeah, aww, she thinks we’re just fishin’
We ain’t only fishin’
(This ain’t about fishin’)

Peacock Reunion and Oviatt Reunion

August 27th was such a huuuuge day.
We had 2 different family reunions planned and half a dozen other things.
First thing in the morning we went to the Day of Service for our ward and spent a couple hours weeding an elderly sister's yard.  Then we rushed home to get ready for
Family pictures with the Peacock side.  It was Luke's grandparent's, Dixon and Talma's 50th wedding anniversary party that day.  First we took pictures at the Castle Dale Elementary (sorry no copies of the pics yet) and then they had a family party.  Unfortunately, I had to miss the fam party because I had a family reunion in Spanish Fork.  Ironically, Luke is always up there and this one day he was in Castle Valley and I had to go up there.

The girls stayed with Luke and they all had a great time.  Here is the picture Tianna gave them as their gift.

in Spanish Fork, I went to the Oviatt reunion (my Grandma Theressa's side)

 Stupid blogger. That picture was not rotated until it did it. But alas I'm too lazy to fix it.  Anyway, this is my funny Uncle Ken.  He took his teeth out and sang a silly song and then a really really really sweet song he sang to his wife, Kathryn--my grandma's youngest sister.

 This is "the old Mare's" who sang "The Old Mare, She Aint What She Use to Be"... it was awesome!
I was sad to miss the Peacock's 50th celebration, but I was very grateful to attend my families reunion.  I got to see old pictures of my grandparents from the day they eloped and got married on a trip to Idaho, but came home and lived separately for a month (?) until they dared tell her father.  I saw pictures of them dating and being so young and vibrant.  I was struck at this is the very age their spirits are. They are not in the old bodies I knew them in, but they are just as they were in those pictures.  I couldn't hold in the tears as I thought of it.  I really really miss my grandma (and grandpa--it's just she was around for so long after he was) and the other grandparent's I wasn't able to know in this life. I look forward to a a great reunion someday.
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Now, just because I have no better place for them, I wanted to share a few other random pics. This one is just because I love Adelia's new dress.... sadly, she got into fingernail polish the very  next time she wore it, so it has some issues, but we salvaged it as best we could.  Little stinker! hehe

 This is Tianna's picture of President Monson.  She saw some drawings done by other children in the August
'Friend' magazine and wanted to make her own. She did  one and she had drawn individual teeth and let's admit, it was pretty creepy looking.  Then she did another one to do a little better and it was remarkably better.  It really does look like him, doesn't it?! Not bad for a not-even-5 year old, right?

My girls love art.  Tianna could draw all day long... and Adelia could make messes for Mom to clean up all day long :)  It's her art