Our House {First Things First}

Wow, it has been a crazy couple of weeks...and we're not done yet.

As noted in our last post we closed on our house on December 22nd.

We decided that we wanted to get in there and clean and prep and paint as much as we could

before Christmas, yea that only left us two days (including Christmas Eve) to work our little tails off.

 We started by washing walls, removing the chair rail that ran through the living room and down the hallway, removing wall paper, patching holes, sanding, washing walls again, and taping. Finally we started painting the night of the 23rd.  We only got one coat of paint in one bedroom. Can we say behind schedule?!

Christmas Eve was a little smoother since we had done most of the wall prep already.  Since we were so behind schedule we decided to shoot for getting at least our bedroom, Miles' bedroom and the living room painted.  By that evening we had successfully finished painting the two bedrooms and got one coat in the living room.  Phew. Now it's time to take a break for Christmas.

The next step is having the original hardwood floors refinished.  This process is scheduled to being on December 26th.

Here are a few before pictures.

Christmas 2011 + A Special Surprise

Our Christmas was a nice break in the middle of the insanity that has been renovating our house.

In order to add a sense of calm and normalcy to the holiday we decided to spend it at our apartment instead of in a disheveled half painted house.  

It was a great day full of family, great food and relaxing.

Miles was so excited for Christmas this year and grasped the full concept of Santa a presents.

He was so cute, it was so much fun to watch his face as he ripped into each present.

We had a special Christmas surprise for our parents this year.

Let's see if you get it faster than they did ;).

That's right. Baby Lucero#2 will be joining our family in early July!

We are so excited and can't wait to bring a new baby into our home.

Miles is going to be a great big brother; as time goes on he starts to understand more and more what's going on.  When we talk about the new baby all he wants to know is when he gets to hold him/her. So cute!

Home for the Holidays

We closed on our house today! 

More details coming soon.

Dear Robyn,

I sometimes forget that some people actually read my blog.

I'm sorry to have left you hanging.

We have been crazy busy at our house so my blog posts have been few and far between.

There are two dietitians on maternity leave at work not to mention everyone wanting time off for the holidays so I have been working way too much.

On top of a not-making-me-very-happy work schedule our time is being consumed with the process of buying our first house. We are scheduled to close on December 22nd. It's a cute little brick rambler in Bountiful. It needs a little updating so trying to decide what we like and finding the right people to help us with the no-way-am-I-doing-that-myself projects has kept us crazy busy. We are pretty excited to finally get out of our cramped apartment.

Our Thanksgiving was fabulous. We spent it with Gabe's family at his Grandma's house in Ogden. The food was scrumptious. I made a snickers cheesecake (Gabe took the liberty of volunteering me for the job) which turned out to be a huge hit. It was a really great day and as always helped me remember everything I have to be grateful for. Being my lame self I forgot the camera, which is unfortunate because Miles did some pretty cute stuff.

Well, that's where I've been. Thanks for always checking up on me.

xoxo, Sarah

Can We Build It?

Yes, we can!

Remember how Miles hated Halloween last year (seen here)? Well, to avoid another Halloween meltdown we opted to go for a costume that was a little less jumperesque.

Miles loves to play with Daddy's tools and help fix anything and everything even when those things might not need fixing. So when I stumbled across this hard hat and tool belt kit I thought it would make the perfect Miles-might-actually-wear-it costume.

Remember how I hate Halloween? Well, I might be singing a different tune after taking this adorable contractor out to beg strangers for candy. Each time someone would answer their door he would say, "Can I have a trick-or-treat please?" I also want to mention that my son has some serious manners and would always follow-up with, "Tant You; BYE!"

Miles has a serious obsession with candy and all things sweet so I knew once he figured out that all you have to do for free sugar is wear a costume and say "trick-or-treat" he would be a lover of Halloween for the rest of his life.

Pretty, Pretty Princess

What girl doesn't dream of having a pretty, pretty princess party for her birthday?

I remember having a princess party for my 8th birthday.

Since it was my mom's birthday on Saturday my sister, Morgan, and I decided that

a pretty princess party was a fabulous idea. So after we raided the dollar store and wiped them out of everything pink and frilly our party was underway.

Miles, being the egocentric two-year-old that he is thought the party was for him. When Morgan pulled out the cupcakes Miles said, "Morgan brought a party for me!" It's easy to get confused when the birthday girl is so eager to share the spot light.

Happy Birthday, Mom!

A Las Vegas Weekend

Last week was our 8th wedding anniversary.

To celebrate we decided a family trip to Las Vegas was in order.

THURSDAY'S AGENDA:

Wake up by 7:00 am and load up the car.

Pile in the car and hit the road.

Take a nap to help pass the time.

Arrive in Vegas, check in, get settled.

Enjoy a tasty, entertaining meal at Rainforest Cafe inside the MGM Grand.

Walk the strip and look at "the big pretty lights".

Check out the Belagio fountain.

FRIDAY'S AGENDA:

Wake when Miles gets tired of being quiet.

Chow down on some cold cereal w/milk and bananas.

Visit the Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay.

Grab a quick lunch. We drove for an hour only to find the restaurant we were told

to hit up was closed then after another hour we ended up at McDonald's.

Relax at the hotel so Miles can take a much needed nap.

Hit up a random restaurant at Mandalay Bay.

Stop by MGM Grand to see the Lion Habitat.

SATURDAY'S AGENDA:

Wake whenever Miles decides it's time.

Catch the train in Boulder for a 45 minute ride at the Nevada State Train Museum.

Grab lunch on our way back to the hotel.

Nap as long as Miles thinks is necessary.

Hit the America Restaurant inside New York, New York.

Visit the free aquarium at the Silverton.

We asked Miles to take our picture...

Watch the Mirage volcano.

SUNDAY'S AGENDA:

Pose with my favorite little man while Daddy checks out.

Drive the 7.5 hours home.

It was a good trip, but it is always great to be home.