Sister to the Rescue!

This past weekend I was really planning on driving to Flagstaff to visit Amy and her kids - it had been a long time coming and it was my turn to make the drive...But when Friday morning came around I was sick and felt incapable of making the drive or surviving the weekend there if any of the kids didn't sleep (like Beau is prone to do when we travel). So I called Amy in tears and she said, "It's okay, I'll come! I'll leave in one hour."
How amazing is that? It really took her five more hours to leave, but still...I'd consider that "the drop of a hat," wouldn't you? It worked out great because her husband Mike was taking the two older boys camping for the weekend, so she just brought the two youngest, Sarah and Mikey.
She came, we hung out, played games (including Scrabble for breakfast - because that's when you know you're on vacation), went garage sailing, and even filled her tiny wish of having something really big to hang on her wall. We made something like this: I made these two years ago, they hang behind my bed, but we made her's three panels instead of two so it could go behind her couch. It is four feet tall and eight feet wide, a terrific use of $26 and a big wall. It turned out really beautiful and I can't wait to hear what color she has painted it.
One of the nights I utilized my face-painting set again and the kids requested to be cheetahs and a lion. After getting painted they spent the next thirty minutes roaring at everyone. It was really fun.Jacob's was my favorite, I think...just ferocious...and clean cut...Sarah looks like a super-tough cheetah here.Bekah didn't sit still long enough for me to get a shot of her.
That same night Amy cleaned out my pantry and my over-filled corner wall cabinet. They are so refreshingly organized now, I can't help but think of her every time I reach for bread or my paper towels. Somehow I came from a really clean-conscious family without being a clean-freak myself, and sometimes that backfires, but this time it worked out well for me. :)
Thank you Amy for being so terrific!

Disneyland Tips, Please

My entire family plans to venture to the Magic Kingdom (Disneyland, not Florida), in a couple months...and I will be the first to admit we are all novices. None of us has ever taken any of our kids...most of my siblings only have gone when they were younger - in high school or college.
So I need your helpful tips, all you brave and adventurous and devoted Mickey Mouse fans!
Mainly, where is the best place to stay? I've always heard it's best to stay in the park...If everyone comes there will be fourteen children, ages 2 1/2 to fourteen, and twelve adults. Do you know of any places with good group packages?
Other than that info, I'd be happy with all of your other little tips and tricks that have helped you have the best Disney experience possible...so lay them on me, PLEASE!
Thank you!

Big Belly

Beau has an incredible belly. Seriously. Check this thing out:He's super proud of it, obviously.It's good luck if you rub it. Or kiss it. Or give it a Zerber. (Raspberry).He also has great taste in shoes...and does not settle for just one type at a time.Crazy fun kid!

Gun Cleaning

Rus had to clean his guns yesterday. Jacob and Beau were naturally attracted to the sound of metal manliness and had to watch Rus's every move. After about the second gun being cleaned Rus thought to have Jacob go get his new Nerf gun that he got from Uncle Jacob for his birthday. Rus put some water in a cup and handed it to Jacob as his "cleaning fluid," and then let him use some of his other cleaning tools while instructing him on what areas of the gun needed to be cleaned. Also as a dutiful father he reiterated key points of gun safety and when it's okay to touch dad's gun or dad's bullets. It was pretty much the cutest father-son bonding thing I've ever seen - akin to a mother and daughter making a cake or painting their toes together...but cuter.
And now to update you on my other hoodlums...
Bekah has been sort of difficult lately. I was really grateful that Rus was home the week after Christmas because he 1.)got to see/hear first hand the incredibly dramatic fits Bekah can pull off and 2.)got to work with Bekah, have lots of "Dad Talks," and joined me when I could do nothing but shake my head in unbelief at her excessive antics. Think: full out tears and wailing/screaming if she bumps her head on the railing of the stairs, or if Beau pushes her, or if Colonel sniffs Frenchie (her stuffed dog), or if Jacob says something that she interprets as insulting, or if I'm not making spaghetti for dinner, or if I don't let her eat an apple ten minutes before dinner, or if I WANT TO BRUSH OR FIX HER HAIR (a truly awful form of torture), or other equally heinous crimes.

Actually the Tuesday after Christmas she threw a fit about her hair and Rus handed me fifteen dollars and his keys. I took her straight to Great Clips and had them chop at least four inches off. She cried on the way there but was fine during and afterward. She looks super cute with it short; I especially like it when it's curled (she doesn't).
Her hair before: (Christmas morning with the coveted orange)Her hair after:(Bekah and Frenchie)

Rus and Bekah actually made a list (that Bekah signed) stating that Bekah is allowed to cry one time a week. One freebie a week, because even moms do that. After that, the first time she cries each day she has to go to her room for five minutes and then do something nice for someone else. The next time she cries that day she has to go to bed and (this was Rus's idea and I'm sure he'll be at work if ever it needs implementing), wear a diaper, because that's what babies do.
And now Beau:
This crazy kid has been keeping Rus and I up at night for the past three nights (at least). I know now (after a trip to the Dr.), that it's because he has an infection in each ear. He's been sleeping on our floor in our bedroom because that way when he wakes up every hour Rus just has to say, "Lay down Beau, go to sleep," and he's good for another 45 minutes. I don't know how Rus has been faring at work with his lack of sleep, but I'm feeling pretty foggy headed and s.l.ow.. Hopefully tonight - because of drugs glorious drugs - will be better.
He is a deceptively cute and fun monster, despite it all...As for Rus and I...the bathroom is slowly coming along and Rus's dad is now serenading us with songs of how he'll be the first to use our shower. (I'm thinking the shower heads might go missing as we wrap this one up...j/k)
I've made my list of goals/big changes for this year and I'm pretty sure I'm going to be a little battle worn by this time next year...if I make it. This will be a Big Year. It will go something like this:
Make the yearbook for the school (we're starting simple here...)
Help Emilee disguise the cultural hall as a Reception Hall for her wedding reception in March. (Difficult, you know...)
Go to Disneyland. (Hey if it's not on the list it won't happen.)
Put our house up for sale. Again.
Keep our house clean.
Sell our house.
Pack.
Move.
Remodel the kitchen in Abq. Repaint the bedrooms and install new carpet. Tear out all the flooring in the house. Hopefully tear down some walls.
Leave my old ward and wonderful friends.
Adjust to a new ward and find/bribe new friends.
Have Bekah start a new school.
Have Jacob start school. Kindergarten!

Seriously, I'm feeling some growing pains just thinking about it all. Maybe the secret is not to think about it too much... :)

Jacob Turns Five

Aha! "Before" Bathroom Pictures

Lo and behold I had the "before" pictures on my computer...I just didn't realize it until I was looking through each file for pictures of Jacob for his birthday letter. I recognize that they are not great pictures and you might not even get what you're looking at. But...humor me...

Bathroom Remodel

As you may know, we are moving up to ABQ later this year when our house sells and Rus's parents move to Lordsburg to their new home. (In reverse order, hopefully.) We have had our house on the market since August with not a nibble...or sniff or glance, and yet we are ever certain that Heavenly Father has a plan for us in Albuquerque and he'll make sure we get there...eventually.
Anyways, we took advantage of Rus's vacation time this Christmas to remodel the master bathroom at the house since Rus's parents don't actually use the master bedroom or bathroom. I wish I had the before picture to show you here, but it's stuck in Rus's mom's camera, so I'll have to show it later. Let me just say that the previous shower was a 3'x4' box with some sort of cultured marble surround and termites hiding in the rotten step. (We knew about the existence of termites but had never seen them alive...and wiggling. blech.) The bathroom also had red carpet that dated from the seventies and was quite obviously hammered.
So Rus and I tore out the previous shower, framed in a new shower that is twice the size and installed an extra shower head. Rus worked on the shower pan while I did the framing. My dad was here to help us start tiling. The first part we did was the outside of the shower. Then last week Tyler and Gina helped us tile the shower and bathroom floor. I have to mention that Tyler and I worked all day alongside each other, and at the end of the day I was filthy and Tyler, in his white t-shirt, was spotless. Impressive.
These pictures are before the grout was put in. The door to the bathroom is only two feet wide, so there's no great way to get a picture. The toilet is back to the left, and the vanity on the right will be replaced later.
The outside shower wall: This stuff is called Stackstone and looks really cool, but was pretty tedious to install. It comes as 13" square mesh-backed pieces that interlock together.Rus in the shower (the top half will be glass, from the wall to the ceiling.) The entrance to the shower is on the right. It's just an opening, no door. The back wall of the shower has been waterproofed with "Red Guard." It's the dark blue/green stuff. Underneath it is the "green board" that you have to use in high moisture ares. It's the purple stuff. Makes total sense, right?The floor with a "hopscotch" pattern (I laid all of that part while Tyler and Rus ran the saws.):Shower floor - seriously the hardest part because you have to make sure that you keep a slope down to the drain:I'll have to show you more pictures as the work progresses. Right now my shoulders are burning just thinking about it...but it'll turn out great, I'm sure.