Holy Family Updates!!!

Ok! I'm making a vow to myself. I am going to join the world fully with blogging. I have spent way too many hours looking at everyone else's and I need to get my own going. Seeing as I haven't been diligent in keeping up with personal journals, hopefully this will serve for that purpose also. So, a quick rundown on the fam! :)

Shaun got a promotion back in January and is now the Water Department Leadman. He's really grown into this position and now starts sounding more and more like a supervisor. :) He's been keeping quite busy the past little while doing projects around the house for me. He redid our bathroom. (Why is it that projects always take 3 times longer than you plan for them to?) I'll have to post some pictures. He's really become such a handyman since we got married. Theres very few things that he's encountered that he hasn't been able to fix himself. He's definitely a hard worker.

I have been keeping busy with keeping a half-functional household running. I swear I'm never caught up with things. I work 2 days a week as an Assistant Business Office Manager for a local short-term rehab center here in Brigham. I really enjoy it for the most part. It's nice to have an out a few days and I find I appreciate my kids much more when I have a small break away. I am working on losing this excess weight I've inherited over the last 8 years, and I am doing pretty good at blogging with that. I've joined a weight loss blog site called 'Blog to Lose'. I love it there and the support is awesome! I've also been trying to keep up with the cleaning of all of the projects going on around home. Ya know... sweep/vacuum the dust that is going everywhere, clean up the never-ending supply of tools, and the catch all person for whatever else. Oh yeah, in the midst of the mess I'm supposed to be keeping up with the kiddies and occasionally providing some sort of dinner meal. I just got through repainting my living room and hall (my living room turned out awesome, I'll post pics soon) and then we just got new carpet installed. And Shaun had a small project in between this with tiling an entry way in the living room. He did a great job and each tile project looks better and better. Did I mention that I LOVE my living room? I painted one wall a reddish color and the other walls a taupe color. It looks sweet. I am also working towards going through the temple towards the end of August. This is something I have wanted for a long time and it is way past due.

Taylor has been running around taking up residency at as many various houses that he can, thus far this summer. He loves staying with his Grandma Leslie, Grandma Brenda and Aunt Lindsay. When he is home, he plays a lot on the computer or his various gaming systems...or reads. He is so smart and whips through books much ahead of his age. Oh, and I almost forgot...him and Hollie are often at each others throats with as much spare time as they have on their hands right now. He just started mowing the lawn this year, can you believe it? It makes him seem so grown-up. I guess he is growing up though. After all, he'll be in the 5th grade this year. He is a great help to me around the house and also with Kambri.

Hollie is enjoying summer to the fullest. Between running back and forth between our house and our little ole' neighbors', playing at Grandma's with her cousin, talking on the phone with her friend from school, (I did mention she is only 6, right? They talk quite often. It's darn cute!) teasing the crap out of Taylor and Kambri, and trying to keep up with Taylor's number of sleepovers...she makes me tired! She is learning to ride her bike without training wheels and is so proud of herself. She loves to follow Mom and/or Dad around while we're out and about.

Kambri is getting so big. My baby is growing up so fast. It's hard to believe she's almost 2. She recently started speech therapy with the 'Up to 3' program that is coordinated from Utah State University. She is extremely smart and understands what we tell her, but was making no efforts in trying to talk. They originally started by teaching us some sign language to use with her until she started picking up on some words, but an amazing thing has happened. Within the last week she has started saying several different words. She'll mimic us and approximate words now! I am completely tickled. It has been such a worry for me and she seems so excited to be able to say some words now, also. She is into everything, my worst child yet for that. I shouldn't say 'yet' because we're SOOOO done having kids. (Sorry, got a little off topic there.) She loves to play outside, play with her baby cousin Haddie, and play with her dolls. I'm really looking forward to this next school year and it being just her and I. I've looked forward to that 1-on-1 time with each of the kids at that age.

Well, that's plenty long for now. I will work on getting some pictures posted tomorrow. Whew! That really wasn't quick, was it? Hopefully the rest will be shorter from here on out, now that I've gotten things caught up to speed.