Finally!!!

I CAN NOT BELIEVE how dependant I am on a computer!!  I've been without mine for going on 2 months...and......UUUUUGH!!!!  haha...seriously!  But, I'm back now!  WAHOO!!!

I seriously have thought of and forgot several posts over that time...so, I'm not sure what I'll actually get typed up.  But, I just wanted to say...hello!  I'm back!  (hahaha....as if there was a fan base wondering where I'd gone.  hahaha)

Announcing our furniture company!!!

Many of you know that I have a furniture company. I started it so that I could furnish my own house, but it is really fun! I don't have a show room right now, I have catalogs and websites that you can view the furniture. And, I don't offer delivery, assembly, or installation...but, that means that you get a better deal! :0) It really is fun when you realize how much furniture costs with no overhead!

Anyway, I have finally set up on a blog. www.kaicomfort.blogspot.com So...now, you can all easily find the websites for my vendors if you want to check out some merchandise. And, I'll post any great deals or fun prices for you all to see.

I haven't been doing this for very long, so not many people know about it. And, because it's not the typical furniture store, I think our customer base will pretty much family, friends and friends of friends. :0) I would LOVE you all to help me get the word out!!

Soooo....check it out!! www.kaicomfort.blogspot.com

The much anticipated....

I LOVE to design and decorate!!  And I recently decided that I wanted to upgrade my skills to those that require power tools!  haha...  I have a few friends in AZ that can do ANYTHING  (...Margo and Michelle...)  So, thinking of them inspired me to step it up and do it myself... Samantha's room was my first target.  She has been begging for a pink room for months.  :0)

I started with the texture on the walls because they were literally one huge patch job!  I tried my hand at texturing...my version of holy-smooth (spelling?).  I was really really happy with the way it turned out!  It's hard to see in a picture, but maybe if you enlarge the picture you can tell...  I'm actually going to start texturing the basement myself because I like it so much.

The beadboard trim wasn't horrible to do...it is just definitely a 2 person job.  Holding anything that large over head and secure to the wall...really cool shoulder workout!  So, I'm thinkin that Kaitlyn will get something on the lower half of the walls instead.  haha

So far, the only bit of decorating that we've got done is her letters.  I bought them white and then painted them all to match her bedding.  I thought it would be cute to hang them from a white rod with a ribbon, but it makes the letters go all wonky and I didn't paint the back...hmmm....  

Any suggestions??

Sam's furniture was a fun suprise...I found her dresser, mirror and bookshelf on ksl for just $90 plus a paint job.  We actually made her headboard!!  I know, right?  It was really fun to make! 

Anyway, I had a great time!!  I still need to do some more decorating, window treatments, and have her little chair reapolstered.  But, I'm really happy with how it's turned out so far!  :0) 

And...most importantly...Sam LOVES her new room!  :0)

Thanks so much Sean, Dad, James and Mike for helping me out throughout the project!!  

And thanks everyone else for indulging my little show and tell.  hahahahaha...

Side note:  I'm actually making a few more headboards for a few people as a result...so, if anyone is interested:  

Twin: $60 and Full: $80. 

Happy Decorating!!  

To cut or not to cut...

Spring, spring...beautiful SPRING!!!  

Our first outdoor project of the year was our "lovely" apple trees.  

My Grandpa Bunnell lives just a few miles away, 

and is the tree pruning expert!  

He grew up on an orchard, and was generous enough to share his wisdom.

I missed the complete before picture....but, here's the one tree before 

and almost done with the first.  Ya....tons of over growth!!

Sean and Grandpa studied, deliberated, pondered, created...etc...  

Each branch was an artistic, scientific question. 

Sean was in the tree a lot of the time...

Grandpa was directing and extracting...

And...about 3 hours later...voila!!!

MUCH smaller nice looking trees.  Well...will be nice looking...hehe  

Thanks you so much for your help grandpa!

We're so excited to see how our apple crop will be next year!

Aren't I so lucky to have such manly men in my life.  :0)  LOVE YA!!!

Sammy says 'sssss'

I am so lucky to have my mom here....the actual author and founder of the reading program 'See ABC's' and she has been working with Sammy. It is the funnest system, Sam LOVES it, and is learning like crazy!!! For any of you looking for a fun way to practice letters, to help your kids start the reading process, or help your kids improve their reading if they are struggling... I can NOT say enough about this amazing program!!! Check it out at www.seeabcs.com, and then contact me if you are interested or have questions. ...I have..."connections". hehehe :0)

Because of this great program...Kaitlyn is starting to learn the picture clues, and love the songs and cheers! Samantha has been her best teacher...and, I gotta tell ya, this conversation is one of my favorite mom moments...

Sam: "Kaity, I'm going to teach you 3 sounds, k!
Say, Mommy says 'mmm'."
Kaity: "Mommy says 'mmmm'."
Sam: "Sammy says 'sssss'."
Kaity: "Sammy says 'ssss'."
Sam: "Kaity says 'kkkk'."
Kaity: "I says 'kkkk'."
Sam: "No, Kaity! Kaity says 'kkkk', I says 'ssss'."
Kaity: "I says 'ssss'."
Sam: "Kaity...no, no, no....You got 2 sounds right. Now, let's try again..."

Hahahaha......Imagine that conversation for 10 minutes. It was soooo funny! I'm crying just writing it!!! Who knew how many way those 3 sounds could be taken!

Samantha is such a smart girl, and on Feb. 22, she conquered a milestone! SAMANTHA READ HER FIRST WORDS!!! I know many of you have kids that have already passed this time of life, but it was sooooooo fun to watch her!!! She has been learning all the sounds, picture clues and names of all the letters. She's also learned the vowels...fun songs and cheers that my mom has taught her. And she's done great! She LOVES practicing her letters!

Once my mom started her on the Blending and Chopping book. She learned how to "stretch" the sounds... And, after practicing the sounds only once, she was eager to move on. Her first word was BAT. She followed the program (with mom's help)...and soon... b....a.....t became bat! "Bat! Mom!!! Bat! Bat!" We all cheered and cheered, "Ahhhh!!! You did it!!!"

And her face.....priceless. Her eyes sparkled, her smile...ear to ear... She was filled, no...over-flowing with the sense of accomplishment and ran over to give me a great big hug in celebration!!

I am soooo proud of her! She's started this part of the program and doing exceptionally well and is a full year ahead of most kids at this point. :0) She loves it and is craving more knowledge. It's so exciting!!! Good job Sam!!! I love you!!

"Moments"

When Sean and I were married almost 7 years ago, we were so in love and giddy with excitment (of course, hehe). And since then, we have had some fun and crazy times... Some of my favorite moments have been those that remind me we are soul mates. :0)

My moments aren't usually earthshattering events. They are usually just a part of my everyday routine.

Here's a few of my favorites...

Once when we were preparing to go on a trip, I had overdone it. I am a bit particular about how we leave the house, and had a huge "to do" list before we left. When Sean came home from work, I actually had almost everything done. Soon, all I had was to pack the last few things for us to take...and, I melted. I was overwhelmed, tired and decided...it can't be done...I froze... Sean simply said, "hun, just take one step at a time." He quickly gathered our last items and arranged the bags by the door, ready for an early morning departure. It was quick, easy and we were able to get the rest we needed. It probably sounds silly, but I think about that night often. "Just one step at a time" - and I am reminded that Sean frequently comes to my rescue when I don't see how I can take that next step. :0)

Another moment... Sean's had some serious joint problems over the past 5 years. But, the past few months have been extremely difficult for him. The pain was so intense that he was barely able to walk with a cane. Luckily his Doctor was able to drain his knee frequently to ease the pressure. It was unsettling to see him struggle so much. One morning after discussing our options for the future, we tried to be possitive and get ready for the day. While I was doing my hair, he took me in his arms, and started dancing with me. He said, "Once I am healthy, will you take a dance class with me? I know how happy that would make you, and I love seeing you happy. :0) I would regret it so much if we never got the chance to do that." We laughed, cried and danced that morning in the bathroom.

A few more moments...

During one of our first dinners together, a sweet old lady came up to our table in the restaurant, grabbed both of our hands and said with the most honest smile, "I have been watching the two of you all night...and you...are...made for each other..."

We have both forgotten the topic of our few major arguments we have had as a couple.

We have both stood up for one another whenever neccessary, as well as help overcome our faults when needed...which has made us much better people.

We know when the other needs a few extra minutes in bed, and wake up with the girls, so the other can rest.

I love him! I am relieved to see him doing so well after his knee surgery and can't wait to see what "moments" we will have in the future. :0)

Oh, my little Joni...all grown up!

At the first of January Tawnya, Drew and I were able to escort Joni to Boston where she's living for the next few months.  She's a brilliant artist and has an opportunity to work with some great minds at a company called Fablevision.  She gets to live with our good friends Kim and Lester while she's there.  They are the sweetest most thoughtful hosts!!  I soooo hope we get to return the favor sometime.  :0)  Joni's definitley lucky to have them there.  :0)

We all had the BEST time!!  I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard.  Come to think of it....it's practically a miracle I didn't pee my pants (which rings true for those of u who really know me...hehe)  Anyway...I don't think there's anything like sister to sister (to sister) time.  :0)  

So, while out in the park one day we asked a lady passing by to take our picture, and this is what we got.  hahaha...  Picture this..."Hi there, would you mind taking a picture of us real quick?"  Her face...a bit terrified, replied, "Uhh..Oh..Kay.."  She then takes the camera...holding it at waste level...and dropping it...slowly...turning....more.....and.....CLICK!  Wow!!  Great picture!  Thank you so much!  ?????????  Needless to say, must be my favorite picture from the trip!  :0)

I just LOVE Boston!!  It's a fantastic place to be!  I love the sights, the people, the food...it's so much fun.  Good luck out there Joni!!!  I love you...and am so very proud of you!  :0)

Yeah!!! Boston pics! :0)

Christmas Day!

Well...I guess I need to finally write about Christmas.  haha...which sounds so funny to say since we had such a great day!  In fact, I've been dragging my feet because I can't find a single picture of our Christmas morning.  HA!  It seems so strange...post about Christmas with no pictures??  hehe  Apparently we had SO much fun opening gifts that none of us thought to stop for pictures.  :0)

The most amusing part of the day is that Sean is the one that woke up at 3:30 because he could not contain his excitement!  hahaha....yes, SEAN!  So, he woke up, rearranged our furniture around the tree to give us ample present opening space, he did the dishes, recleaned pretty much all the house.  Then, finally at 5:30 he couldn't wait any longer and WOKE UP SAMANTHA!!!  hahahaha...  Then they came in to wake up Kaity and me!  Crazy guy.  :0)

There were soooo many gifts under the tree that I thought that we might take so many hours to open gifts.  Just not rushing through them...and letting the girls open a gift and play with it for a while if they want...  But, once they got started, there was no stopping them!  There was paper ripping, laughing, cheering and crazy excitment for about an hour and we were all done and ready to go back to bed.  haha...not really.  We had a yummy breakfast and started cooking for dinner.

Sean, once again, cooked a yummy marinated vinjha dolch turkey...mmmmmm!!  It's a Portugese dish...very good (thanks Papa Cadina for that one).  Anyway, everyone came over to our place that night for dinner and it was really fun to hang out.  Sean and James got our family Guitar Hero World Tour for christmas, so we all just rocked out.  It was really fun!  I'm glad that we're all crazy in my family...not afraid to sing and rock!  :0)

Anyway, a great time, a wonderful year...  We really are so blessed.  :0)

Christmas Eve

We had such a fantastic holiday season this year!  We stayed in our new home and had a really great time with just our little family. Our girls were so excited for all the festivities...this may have been my favorite Christmas to date. :0)Sean cooked and baked and planned and made a huge feast for us. Ya...all of that for just us...3 adults and 2 little girls...hehe. :0) Once all the food was ready, we started a fire. It was the perfect setting, yummy smell of food and sweets, the fire cracking with the stockings hung and the Christmas tree lights glowing... Everything was absolutely perfect. :0)

Then, we began the festivities. Our agenda was as follows:

- Gather together and sang carols.- Made a plate of yummy food...eat, eat, eat...
- Gather for carols.
- Made a gingerbread house (such a fun tradition!!)- Gather for carols again.
- Lesson/activity on the symbols of Christmas
(star, candy cane, evergreen, presents)
- We ate food all along the way, but here was when we got our last snacks.
- Opened one present...just happened to be jammies a

nd slippers. :0)So, we all changed into our new snuggly pjs.
- I read Twas the Night Before Christmas.
- We said our family prayers and the girls went right to sleep.
Really...a wonderful night!