OuR Home...

It's starting to seem like one finally :) Even though we probably won't make our goal of when we wanted to be in because of the countertop guy, I have to remind myself a few days won't make a difference and it will all be worth it once we're in! I REALLY can't complain, seeing how our last house took us 10 months to finish, and this one will be right around 6.
All the exterior pretty much done...EXCEPT our timber needing to be stained, when we finally get some decent and warm enough weather...AND the patio should be done soon. :)
Our railing...WOW have some sawdust huh? Looks like it might change the look of it and floor completely once its clean. haha
Master bath...the shower only has the floor done since they messed up on a few things...hopefully it will be wrapped up soon too along with the countertops.
Our kitchen pre-countertops. They were there forming them today and will be poured soon. then we have to wait to stain them still. Also...as soon as those are done, Tys can do the kitchen floor.
and this is the main bath. I'm hoping when we get some lighting in there, it won't look so yellow since the painters accidently painted it the wrong color :) OH well, I'm sure it will all turn out fine.
and part of our Laundry room. The fun part at least, cabinets and countertops...

More exterior. Our outside doors haven't been painted yet either, they have to wait till it's also warm enough. So our house will really be all finished ONE DAY. :)
Until then...we will be here hoping it comes along as quickly as we had planned.

And here was just a cute pic of tys and Drew I hadn't posted.

SHE MoVEs!!!

Once again, this is more just for our record keeping than for you to probably care about reading :) Our baby has been super active, BUT especially lately. As I sat in church on Sunday I kept watching my belly and you can finally like actually see her moving around in there. I am amazed by it! It is so crazy to me, not mattering that it's my 3rd time, I still think it's beyond words that there is a human being inside me that I can feel moving non-stop all day long. It makes me a little worried that this little one will have a huge case of A.D.D!! haha :) Anyway, I'm still in hopes that this is STILL a GiRL...but only to find out for sure at my next appointment, can't wait to take a peek! ...and hoping the girl thing is so since she did get a couple of her own cute Christmas presents! :)

}MERRY CHRISTMAS{

I can't believe the day has come and almost gone. It's sad how quickly it goes by. But here is our day for us to remember...
I was horrible at taking pics cause I always end up with a million and it was way more fun to for sure have the video anyway :) Here is Peyt running to his presents. He woke up just after 7 and waited at his room with his head poking out of his door. I went and got him and he covered his eyes and kept them closed and covered while waiting in bed with Tys till I told him he could come back out and while we got Drew to wake up.
As he would open every present, he would look at it and then turn to Grandma and Grandpa and simply say what it was...it was hilariously cute! Like "It's spiderman...Is Buzz" I think he used all of his energy opening presents yesterday :)
So funny, this is one of Peyts favorites and he has been wanting to make it all week! He couldn't figure out how Santa knew he wanted it and loved it! haha
Then we got to enjoy Breakfast/snacks upstairs(aka Grandma and Grandpa Yates) and all the kids got to enjoy their pillow pets! They loved them!
Grandma put on a movie for a couple of the kids that were still here. Don't you love Eli's face?
THEN we got to visit Grandma and Grandpa Pickett...I snuck down and got a pic of a few of the kids while there was still a chance!
DOUBLE the fun! haha Peyt got a second pair of PJ's that he was already wearing. He really thought it was so funny, but he LOVES them! So it was great!
Lovin' his new hat! He wore it until he got too hot!
and cute Drew stood back far enough so we could get a pic of his pj's too! Thanks for your cooperation Nate in accidently being in the picture :)
Little Eli and Sam were loving this! Who knew they could walk on the ceiling! haha
and I found these boys enjoying Brennas Christmas present!
I never even got hardly any pics with the boys toys! So here they are LOVING the bat cave!!! I will have to get more pics of all their fun toys as they play with them, especially the Wiggle Cars when they can put them to use in our new house!
Drew said "and one with Joker" with his "I'm too cool" kinda grin! Love it!
We had such a great Christmas, nice relaxing, JUST WAY TOO MUCH SNACKING!, Oh well, that's what it's for right? :) We hope you had a Merry Christmas and enjoyed the day with your families too!

Christmas Eve...continued...

We have been going non-stop all day and I am finally sitting down and figured I might as well upload the pics while waiting for the boys to for sure fall asleep :)
After breakfast, we headed up to Grandma Julies and Grandpa Steves for her yummy homemade pizza! Grandpa entertained the kids with playing dress up and they loved it!
Peyt was SO excited about getting Toy Story 3 from Great Grandma Smith!
The boys with Grandma Great! Drew wore the costume almost the whole time we were there.
Thanks Kinsey for having us take a group pic, glad we did :)
Then off to Grandpa Rich's & Grandma Cindys for dinner, pickle game, and presents...this is the kids with their traditional pickle game fun! They love it!
All the cousins in their new PJ's! Something they look forward to every year.
and with Grandma and Grandpa!
The boys with a couple of their newest toys that they LOVE while watching a traditional Christmas eve show before bed.
No bake cookies, milk and Peyt said the Reindeers needed carrots and hay, while we did have the carrots but no hay :) We put them in a bowl so Santa could take them out and feed them to the Reindeer. Don't you LOVE LOVE LOVE their sweet tree!?!? I tell you, it's the easiest and cutest tree we've had yet! Peyt wanted to make sure Santa knew to deliver the gifts under this tree rather than my moms upstairs. When they went to bed, Peyt said "Now, you two head straight to bed." So cute! They are so excited and it was so fun watching them enjoy today with all the family, fun, food and presents! Now we'll just try and prepare for tomorrow, luckily we did most our visiting today and get to spend most the day at home tomorrow! Yea! The boys will be excited to enjoy their toys!

Getting Started...

MeRRy ChRisTmaS EVE...While we had a quick break in our morning, I thought I'd get started with some of our pics because there will probably be an overload tonight! So here we go!
First is from yesterday, our Thompson friends invited us to go see Yogi Bear! It was a cute show and the boys loved going with their friends! Thanks Heather! :)
This morning we had a yummy Yates traditional breakfast. Yes, I am huge... so just pretend you don't notice :)
The kiddos with activities at "Santas Workshop" THanks Tanya!
Most of the adult siblings with their mom and Ray.
THanks for a festive HOliday Breakfast! Now on to a crazy filled day with no stopping till tonight! ...and even then I don't think we stop...hahaha ENJOY your DAY!

{HoLiDay LiGhtS}

Well, we wanted to get them in sometime this week and finally tonight we had nothing, Oh EXCEPT TWO important games...haha Utes and Jazz playing. So we stole Tys from the tv for a minute to get a little solo family time before the craziness to the rest of our week begins...
Peyt was so excited to put his umbrella to good use today!
and the Dinosaurs were their fav, so we had to capture them on camera :)
The boys ABSOLUTELY loved the lights! Drew kept saying how awesome everything was and Peyt just loved enjoying all the displays and then getting to drive under the lit dome thing.

THEN...Peyt has been asking to frost cookies with his friends, so lucky for him some of our friends weren't busy today and we got together and chatted while they played and frosted some DELICIOUS cookies! and I think they ate them just as quick as they frosted them!
Thanks Misty for the yummy cookies and to Jamie for having us come to her house. We love and miss our Syracuse friends! When I told Drew to tell his dad who he got to play with today, he acted SOOO shy about it and wouldn't even say Maycee's name, he just smiled and was laughing. Finally he laughed again and said her name and then I told Tys that when we were leaving Maycee told Drew to wait and gave him a hug and a kiss. Drew just tried walking out the door...it was hilarious cause he is 3 and was so embarrassed about it! I love it, it's too cute!

*Baby Hunter DeVere Brown*

Since Erin sent me the pic to post for her on FB, I figured why not blog it too?! Such a cute cute little baby! I love his chunky cheeks. He arrived this morning at 10:50 weighing in at 7 pounds 3 ounces and 20 inches long. (I think I got that right) Mom and baby are both healthy. Couldn't be happier for my sis and her cute little family! Love you and Congrats!!! Christmas couldn't be any better with getting a brand new baby, right? :)

Now...just to fix the problem of you living in Virginia so we could meet him in person... :)

Lil' SiBLinG*CouSiN ChRisTmas...

With the chaos of Christmas morning, everyone is coming and going at their own times at Grandma and Grandpa Yates...I decided I wanted to try getting all the siblings together for a little party of our own. Missing the Browns and Cutlers, of course, but we still had a good time. and I think most of all the kids loved it! We had yummy soups, rolls, drinks and cake (to celebrate Miss Nicoles Birthday), white elephants, candy bar game, singing Christmas songs while surprised with a bag of gifts from Santas Helpers! :)
Happy Birthday Nicole! Thanks for an excuse to eat YUMMY BTS cake :)
The cousins waiting to see what was inside the bag that Santa's helpers left at the doorstep while the kids sang Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. As soon as they heard a knock, they got so excited and when we opened the door, I loved seeing their reactions, so surprised! Nothing more fun than enjoying kids expressions at Christmas, I LOVE it!
Drew scored this sweet Spiderman set, and hasnt' set it down! He loves it!
and Peyt was so excited about this umbrella he has been seeing at Walmart for awhile...he says the helpers must watch all the kids on a tv in their work room and that's how they knew he wanted it!
Perfect day for needing an Umbrella!
Hey, I DID get all of you to smile! Look at that...well except Eli! My handsome brothers, cute Eli and hot hubby! Love family time.
and the chicas...and...cute Sam with his little cast! Love their attention with electronics!

Thanks for coming everyone and making time in your schedules for a little shin dig! I seriously don't know what we'd do without all the family we have, we are lucky! Love you all! and thanks to Ryan and Amorie for providing their home for us to spend the time together tonight! :)

BReaKfAsT with SaNtA

This morning the boys got to enjoy the traditional Breakfast with Santa! Thanks to Grandma and Grandpa Yates who plan it every year. This year they needed the parents help though since there are getting to be so many grandkids, I don't think the grandparents can keep track of them all! Lucky for me, I got lots of Christmas shopping wrapped up while Tys and the boys got a fun morning with yummy food, face painting, cookie decorating, letters to and visiting with Santa. Fun Traditions are the best and the boys love it!
Thanks for the picture of all the grandkids that went Bruce! cute!
I got to go hang out for a minute at the end before we headed out the door. such a fun atmosphere.
Drew saw the Grinch and immediately wanted a picture with him....but this is the best smile we could get :)
Cute cousins with their fun stuffed animals from Santa that they LOvE!

Then we were able to continue our fun tonight with our good Burton friends, yummy dinner and nothing better than a Jazz game and a little Wacky Six game of our own! Love spending time with friends, just wish we didn't live so far away(and by far I mean 20 min compared to the old 2 Seconds around the corner)! :(

**AND sorry for those who get bored by house pics, but really they are fun for us to compare the progress to and look back on to see how long it took us to get where**

Stucco done- check
The rest of the exterior hopefully to be done next week, the railing finished up on Monday followed by the entry flooring and cabinets! YEA!!! We are ALMOST there! Can't wait!!!