We had an uneventful March.... We wish happy birthday's to Paul & G'ma Dwiggins and wish we could have been with them!
The house is still coming along. One night I accidentally dropped a hammer on the kitchen counter and a piece of the tile chipped off! It was the beginning of the end. The missionaries came for service one Saturday and we took out the counter-top and we were having so much fun we took out the wall between the kitchen and the dining room. It was actually fun - but has lead to tons of frustration and a new flat-top stove, a new sink, and a double oven. We have learned to become quite handy with screwdrivers, hammers, saws, etc. We still have most of our things out on the balcony. ARGH!!!
Hellooooo.... February can't begin until we celebrate Jamie's birthday! We met for bowling with our family and the Bond's. We had fun! The kids took me to BJ's for my birthday celebration. The house continues to become more disaster area after another. We are liking the travertine downstairs.... it is cold.... there is still no furniture.... it echoes.... and we feel like we live in a cave. We had leftover travertine and decide to have them re-do our upstairs bathroom and around the fireplace. It turned out nice. We decided to try and get the wallpaper off the master bedroom, kitchen & 1/2 bath walls. It doesn't want to leave.... and we have been told the walls have to be re-textured! Soooo.. everything was moved from the master bedroom to the balcony one day (of course dad was out of town).... that was an unbelievable day. It has been done... repainted... and there was at least an inch of drywall dust all over the entire house BUT, we are liking the Spanish music more each day.... but still cannot communicate with anybody here in the house!
WOW.... it is just about MAY 2008!!! We are sorry for being lazy with our updates. Just busy... 2008 January was the huge & crazy house remodel. All of this hasn't been a wanna-be remodel.... most has been a need-to-be remodeled or has-to-be remodeled. But it has been eventful.
Starting on Monday Jan 21... (of course Dad is out of town) and most of the Spanish speaking men in Mesa converged on our home. We had 2 completely different companies here. One on the pool (which by the way was re-done last summer 2007 - but didn't get done right) so here they were again. And the other company was taking out our famous green carpet and replacing it with travertine.
WE HAD SEVERAL BIRTHDAYS IN OUR FAMILY THIS MONTH THAT WE COULDN'T BE THERE FOR AND WE WANTED TO SING HAPPY BIRTHDAY-
~KIM had her 30th Birthday on Dec 2... (Born in 1977)... we think Caleb made her a cake or breakfast in bed if we remember right!! They treated her like a queen. That's what they do in South Carolina.... treat mom's like queens. Good going Caleb. Train him up right Jason. Kim is Queen in our book and we wish we could have made her a cake. We love you Kim.
~CALEB decided to turn 3 on December 12 (Born in 2004 in Phoenix, Arizona). His wish was to have a dinosaur birthday theme and so the Queen mother whipped up a dinosaur cake and wow the little prince was just about fit for a king, but unfortunately the position of King is still presently taken by Father Jason. He probably would have had something to say about that. The little prince has more training from the king and queen.... but he is looking pretty good and we love him more than a royal person anyway.
~BRAELEY DWIGGINS REED is getting sooo big, but just felt it was a good year to turn 6. (Born in Mesa Arizona with that beautiful platinum colored hair) and the cutest little girl baby besides her mom and Aunt Kaitlyn. She was born Dec 20, 2001. Have you ever noticed how many loops are in her name written in cursive... how many loops are in the number 6. Well I guess it matches and it must be ok for her to turn 6. WOW how can that be? We think she deserves to be 6 because she is really growing up rather nicely. She is a good helper to her mom and always shares and helps with the other kids. Good going Girlie Q! We love you.
After our visit to South Carolina & North Carolina, we were able to go to Oregon for Lisa Herzog's wedding. We had a couple of fun days in San Francisco & then Monterey. It was a beautiful sunset in Monterey Bay.
Do you remember the famous seal painting on the school up in LaMesa housing?
Jason can tell you where to get the best pizza in all of Monterey.
Our home has been torn down (I'm sure you'll all agree it was long overdue). A nice park is built where it used to stand.
We spent Thanksgiving Eve with Bryan, Kaitlyn, Chris, Jamie, Eric, Ashlee and Wes!! We had our first ever non-huge Thanksgiving dinner and ate sandwiches and tons of desserts the night before! Wes waited up for Papa to fly in from New York and was sooooo tired, but had room for Dr. Pepper (yep - he is a Dwiggins baby)... he didn't really have any... the cap is on!
Then Thanksgiving afternoon, we flew to San Francisco and drove down the coastline to Monterey. The weather was beautiful. The next day we drove to Oregon and was there for Lisa's (Janna's cousin) wedding. It was a great weekend and yet we missed gaining extra pounds during the traditional Thanksgiving and stuffing ourselves silly. WAIT -- There's always Christmas.
We drove to North Carolina to visit the North Carolina Dwiggins family. Caleb rode up in Papa and Gram's car and we had quite a conversation. He talked about the movie he watched on the way, colors of the trees, baby Austin, mom and dad, paws and lots of other fun things. We went out to dinner that night with Gma Dwiggins, Aunt Hilda (which is Gma's sister in law - was married to Gma's brother Pete who passed away years ago), their daughter-Vickie and husband-Tim, Karen & her boyfriend Wayne, Amanda, Heather, Rick, April & Ben, their boys - Peyton and Tanner (the 2nd), Jonathan, and the most fun of all Caleb, Austin and Kim and Jason! We had a nice time at Ryan's... do you remember the one in Jacksonville with the yummy rolls? Caleb was "too-sad" when Great-Gma Dwiggins didn't ride to the restaurant with him and said he didn't want to eat, but when we got there, he quickly changed his mind and really ate a lot. He is quite a boy! We had a nice night. Note the 4 generation pictures taken.
On Nov 8th we flew to Jason & Kim's house to spend some time with Caleb and Austin (and of course Kim and Jason). Caleb has really grown up since we saw him this past summer... he quickly introduced us to Paws (his puppy), showed us around the backyard, his favorite books, movies, toys, dinosaurs, his baby Austin, and he talked up a storm. As papa put it - he is all boy! Baby Austin wasn't quite the little baby we thought we were going to meet, but then again, he is already 2 months old and is such a happy little boy. We gained weight from all of Kim's homemade everything. Jason has started working out and has lost some weight.... he said he had to do something or else he would weigh a ton! We believe it. Kim doesn't look like she had a baby, but the little weight she says she has to lose - we don't think is needed.... she looks great! What a great time we had!
Since I just posted about Bryan graduating, working, etc, I thought I'd just add this picture. Isn't he cute, Hawaiian lei and all....
Since Bryan graduated from high school he has been pretty much 'gone'. He works for a company that installs security systems for all the PF Changs and PeiWeis nationwide... anyway, he is always traveling now. He received an academic scholarship for college and is taking online classes. I don't have many pictures of Bryan! We were in Colorado for Cindy's birthday and this was taken one evening. Bryan is always smiling!
DECEMBER BLOG UPDATE!!
Oh my stars! Santa came and went like never before! December is a total blur... that's how fast it seemed to go. We were totally not in the Grinch mood this year even though we had a visit from him we just decided to make the best holiday season ever?
~We started off celebrating our anniversary listening to Kaitlyn sing out at a great Holiday Dinner Concert. She performed again later in the month at the Temple. She is so cute and so talented.
~We had our Ashby Family Home Evening and enjoyed spending the afternoon with grandma Ashby, cousins, aunts, uncles, and kids. We got a couple good pictures of everyone and had a great time!
~Then we went up to Sedona. It was a cold but beautiful scenic weekend - no snow but we love going up to 'Red Rock Country'.
~We were excited to have Wes spend the night one night while his dad and mom went to a Christmas party!
~We celebrated Papa's birthday -we had a fun evening waiting for him to come home from Colorado so we could eat one of his 52 cupcakes and sing happy birthday :0)
~Bryan spent most of the month home (not a traveling month). It is so nice to have him around for a change. He is such a positive influence in our home. We keep thinking, "this may be the last ......... with Bryan" because next year he might be on his mission.
~After Cindy & Paul's family got here, we met Eric, Ashlee, Chris & Jamie, with Bryan and Kaitlyn and little kiddos out at the motocross biking racetrack and Paul showed us how to do it to the track!!! What a stud!
~One day we went out to lunch to TiaRosa's for mexican. It was great food and fun company. The restaurant was still festive with the holiday decorations up, but the day wasn't complete until we ended up at a park so the kids could play. We went down to Freestone Park on Lindsay and Guadalupe. It was cold, but the kids had a good time getting out.
~Then the excitement of having the kids come and paint the house for our Christmas present was a little more than we could hardly stand.... We had a harder time than we thought picking out the exact color.... so several swatches were placed before the final determination was made. Thanks for all the votes. Taping and caulking was fun and we ended up with several extra kids (Bryan and Kaitlyn have such good friends that just want to help).
~The real fun came for us being able to spend the whole day with 5 of our 7 grandkids. We started off watching a video in the car as we drove and ended up going through McDonald's for happy meals and straight to the park to eat, play, play, then load up and drive through a car wash, then a stop at the store to pick out promised toys for good little boys and girls, then out to Eric & Ashlee's for dinner and toy playing and then cookie making, and finally the thrill of coming back to papa & gram's home to see a beautiful home newly painted.
~It was so fun to have Cindy, Paul and kids here for their stay. We missed Jason and Kim & boys but it was a tender moment when Jason called while we were in the car with 5 of the grandkids and then we got to talk to Caleb on the phone (just the thought of him being in the backseat with the rest of the kids with little Austin). It's great being mom and dad and papa & gram. We sure love our kids and grand kids!
~On Sunday night the 30th we all joined together in our newly freshly painted dining room and sat down to a wonderful turkey dinner. We are blessed to have what we do. Most important in our lives is our family. Then we gathered together in the piano room- around the Christmas tree and opened Christmas presents from one another. How cute to watch the little ones open their presents. We love you all and thank you for the newly fresh coats of paint and the time and sacrifice & $$$ spent to help us get this house in order. We are encouraged and will keep working to get it where it needs to be. You are our blessings in our lives! We love you and thank you for all the hours and hard work on the house.
~The last day of the old year we drove out to Chris & Jamie's and hung out in their cute home and then to Chuckie Cheese to play the games and take pictures. Afterwards we came home to eat and just chill a little waiting for the new year. Several sickies amongst us with the dreaded bug caused bedtime to come earlier than the magical 12 o'clock. But we saw the "ball drop in NY" and it wasn't too many minutes later, we were all in bed zonked.
UPDATE FROM PAPA & GRAM
Updated
12/3/07...
We had our first annual "Thanksgiving Eve Dessert night". We had originally planned on a big dinner with grandmothers and kids and everybody joining, but then Dad got stuck in New York and so we changed it to a "no stress" pig out on dessert evening - adding that the next day, everybody spend the day with other loved ones and not splitting up the day trying to find room for more food. This freed up the day for us to fly to Lisa Herzog's wedding in Oregon. So, Thanksgiving, we flew into San Francisco (which by the way was the absolutely best day in the whole year to travel - No one was in the airport and we were upgraded to first class). Then on Friday, we avoided all shopping centers, and drove down Highway 1 from the Presidio in San Francisco to Monterey Bay and revisited our old alma-maters. Dad - Naval Post-graduate school and Mom - Monterey Peninsula College. We drove up to the housing area (LaMesa) where we lived for 3 years and found the old homestead is no longer there... but a really nice park and replaced with really nice housing. *When we visited Hawaii a few years ago we found our house (the duplex) was replaced with a nice park... which goes to show, some of the Navy housing areas we lived were great, but just not able to make it after the Dwiggins crew left.
Then on Saturday, we drove up to Oregon and it was freezing. Oh my goodness, I am such a whimp! We enjoyed our visit with Lisa and met her new husband Arlo Anderson. He is a really nice man and has a super family. It was a great wedding. Dad and I were asked to be the witnesses! :)
11/18/07
Dad & Mom had a great time in South Carolina, North Carolina, then South Carolina and then North Carolina. Dad went on to New York, Mom went home to Arizona. Dad went back to North Carolina. He will leave on Tuesday 11/20 for Maryland and then on to New Jersey and then home to Arizona on Wed 11/21. We are thinking about driving through California to Oregon on Saturday 11/23 (just thinking about it). But so far this month, no trips to Mexico!!!
See pictures for updates on trip to SC then NC then SC. We had the best time!! (except for the ER visit on 11/11 with dad)!
The bathroom is officially completed.... but there are a few things we are going to change - add a nozzle in the bathtub, hang a shower curtain, curtains, towels, etc (little things)... We love it! Pictures to come soon!!
The hole in Bryan's wall is patched! :)
OCTOBERS Update
Well, this past month we have been working with redoing things around the house and yard. Our bathroom is coming along great! We went up to Kohl's Ranch past Payson and stayed a couple days and road our bikes all along Wood's Canyon Lake and area. It was just about too cold for one of us! We had a great time. We went to Rocky Point with Bryan, Kaitlyn, Tim Rush, Sterling Massey & Brooke LeBaron. 5 teenagers!!! We had a blast!
