insight

Hey all, I have been reading a lot of people's blogs lately and have realized they are all a lot more personal than mine. I have really enjoyed learning more about my friends and family and what they are going through right now. I feel like it keeps me in touch, even though I am not living by them anymore. I must say, it does not feel like I have made close friends as quickly as I usually do. Part of it is because we are a little bit more busy. Another reason is that we don't have a house that we feel comfortable inviting people to. Lastly, I do not have a running partner yet. Nothing makes someone a better friend than running with them every day, and just talking about what is going on in each others' lives. That is really therapeutic for me. Running by myself is also a release, but I really would love some companionship.

Aside from that, I am really learning that the Lord is mindful of each of us. He is really teaching me faith right now. I know that he will take care of our family as long as we are doing what he would have us do. This last 8 months has really made Paul and I reach way deep inside of ourselves to see what we are really made of. It has been a lot of fun too. For those of you who thought I was laid back before, you should see me now. I have to be very laid back in order to survive in our current situation, because nothing ever goes the way we plan, and nothing is ever done when we think it will be, and every month we have to create a new way to pay our bills, but it always works out. Which takes me back to my point that Heavenly Father will take care of us as long as we pay our tithing and live righteously. I have really felt that confirmed to me in the last few months.

My kids have truly been a dream through all of this. For Christmas, we got Gus a tool set and he is always right along side his dad while he is working on stuff. I can't say those are the times that Paul gets very much done. Actually I have found that he gets the most done when we leave town. Max is just always contagiously happy. He makes everyone around him feel good.

Life's happenings

Life is really great Here in Flagstaff. Paul is working like crazy in school, and good news: he will be graduating next December! I am so proud of him. He really plugs away. I am busy running a small preschool up here. I love it to death. Sometimes I wish we could all be more like little kids. I swear they have so much confidence with who they are at that age. They don't even worry about trying to fit in. They are so happy with just being themselves! I want to know how to raise my kids in a way that they will keep that quality as they grow older. If any of you have any answers, let me know. Anyway, I posted a bunch of pictures, a lot of them are of our house, but hey, that is what we are working on all the time, so if it bores you, you don't have to look. Enjoy! Oh and by the way, little Fox #3 is on the way. That's right, I am great with child!


This is a picture of my dear friend Allison and her husband Adam. I just wanted to give props to her for just recently giving birth to twin boys!
Congrats, and hope you get some sleep!











This is in Utah, I have no idea what Max put in his mouth, but this was the result.

















Here are some pictures of when our back patio caved in a few months ago. We had so much snow this year. It has been one crazy winter. Paul and I were standing right by our sliding glass door when it fell, and it was really amazing how much power it came crashing down with. It completely crushed our grill that was sitting underneath, but at least it didn't crush our kids or something!






























This is what our kitchen looked like a few weeks ago.






























Here is Paul, building our cabinets in our front room, which is being used as a workshop at the moment















Here is the kitchen partly done. At least now the sink is installed!















Gus and Max love living in a house under construction. Here they are playing in the unfinished cabinets

















Here is what our kitchen is looking like now. We don't have countertops and we still need a few doors and drawers, but you get the gist of it.


























Here is our ceiling in our living room that I spent hours caulking and painting. I'm pretty proud of it.











Here is our hallway bathroom that is mostly done now. Last time I posted a picture of this bathroom was when people were standing in a hole in the floor of it. Looks a lot different now!

BOO!

This is our dog. We have had him for a while now, but I thought I would introduce him. Gus named him Boo the first day we got him, and it just stuck (Gus had never seen the movie Monster's INC.) Gus likes Boo and really enjoys making him do tricks and giving him treats, but he doesn't "love" Boo, at least not the way Max does. If Boo decides to lie down and relax, Max is right there on top of him. He loves to nuzzle his head into him, and sometimes bite him (Yes, I'm still talking about Max). But that is just what he does when he really loves you. He does it to me all the time. Boo gets a little annoyed but never bites. He is such a good dog for our kids. Also, he sits, stays, and shakes.

Max was not quite as enthusiastic about having his very own birthday cake as I had hoped. I can't understand why. He is very enthusiastic about food in general.





Gus and I made a cookie monster pinata for his and Paul's birthday on February 12. It was a lot of fun, and it took a good beating too before it fell apart!















Here is Gus eating breakfast in bed on his birthday.












Gus has been very interested when I put on my makeup lately, so I dolled him up a bit. Paul just about killed me, but it was worth it. He looked so funny. What do you think? Would he be a pretty girl?

Here is a picture of sledding with the Sutherlands. The boys love to go sledding, as long as they are really bundled up!

haircut

Max turned one year old, so we gave him his first haircut. We decided it would be easier if we just buzzed it because he did not want to sit still! We went ahead and did Gus's too. It was very sad to see Max's hair go. He is no longer my little baby!

our house is getting a little better!

OK everyone here are some recent pictures of our house remodel. If you didn't know what it looked like before, go back and look at the post labeled "our project." Then you will see that we actually have made some progress! It is coming along!



Max has really been a key factor in the remodel of our house. I don't know if we could do it without him.
Here is our bedroom. Don't pay attention to the mess on the bed. That is just junk from our closets, but look at the nice paint job! For those of you who saw it before, you know that this is much better than the custom paint job that was there before!
Here is our guest bathroom. We are working on putting in a new tub and we have to connect it from underneath. Thus the hole in the floor. Needless to say, we keep that door closed!
Here is Paul working on shelves in our linen closet.
we stripped our bedroom closet to build new shelves
Susan helped us to take our decorations off our tree.
For those of you who looked at the previous pictures, you can probably tell that this room has improved a lot. We finally finished mudding, taping, and texturing, so we were able to paint it.
Here is Kelianne in our kitchen. Hopefully Paul will build our new cabinets soon.

Here is our kitchen and our dining room. It isn't usually this messy, but we are in the process of building new shelves in our pantry and closets, so all of our stuff is on the counter.
Here are the boys working on the siding


Here is the outside of our house now. It is really coming along. Paul's Dad and brother Aaron are working on puting up new siding, and Paul and Brad just got finished building that new eve over the front door.