What's new

I have really kinda let this blog go and I feel kinda bad about it. I have been trying to get my new blog up and going and man is that a chore.  I have to say that blogs are not user friendly. Every time I attempt to change something on my blogs I am always hesitant to click the "apply to blog" button.  Who knows what will happen or if I will be able to undo it if I don't like the change.  Anyway we survived the Fall and winter seasons...so far.  Christmas was good.  We had a couple of Christmas parties here and I have to say that it's nice to finally have a home that will allow us to have everyone over.  Thanksgiving we had about 20 people here and there was a seat for every one of them.  Thanks to my sister in law, Amy and her mom for allowing us to borrow some folding chairs. 

We are looking forward to Spring finally coming and getting back out to the woods in our home away from home.  Our trailer has been gone all winter having some warranty work done on it and it is almost done.  He told us he needs 1 warm day to roll the slide out to fix it.  It has been nice to not have to worry about storing it over the winter.  It has worked out perfectly.  Our snow is almost melted and I am dreaming of yard work to be done.  First on the yard work list...FIX THE DRIVEWAY.  The water runs down the hill and has made our approach shall we say...un approachable!  Especially to the little cars.  We are going to bury a drainage pipe for the water to go through rather than the trench it has created now. 

We should have our basement done shortly after we get our tax returns.  It is ready for paint, trim and carpet.  The kids are SO ready to have their own rooms.  I am ready too. My closed in my bedroom is full of all my craft stuff until my room is done. It will be nice to have my closet back. 

We have had one birthday after another this month starting with Reagan turning 3 on January 30th. Then a week later Hayden turned 4. My niece turned 3 on Feb 1st, then another niece had a birthday on Feb 8th.  I have a nephew's birthday on the 23rd, mine is the 24th,  my sister in law on the 26th, and Logan turns 11 on the 29th, (or whenever we choose to celebrate it this year)  And next year there will be one more birthday in Feb.  My sister in law is expecting a baby boy and her due date is March 1st.  We are just expecting the phone to ring at any moment to tell us he is on his way...she has been having contractions for a while now and no one expected that she would last this long.  Way to go Amy!!.   Anyway this is probably long enough of a post. HA HA!  Everyone knows I am long winded and that doesn't change when I type.  If you are reading this be sure to check out my new blog www.crystalscustomclockscraftsandvinyl.blogspot.com and check out all the new projects I have been doing.  Also my mom has started making the most adorable hats and they are also for sale there.  Check it out and be sure to become a follower to be entered in any giveaways that I do in the future.  Thanks for stopping by.

New blog!!

Yes I have a brand new blog! I have recently started selling some of my crafts and vinyl on facebook and I have been doing so well on there that I decided to start a blog centered just around my crafts and vinyl cutting with hopes that I may generate more interest. I appreciate any support that you give whether it be just a good luck comment or an order. Please follow my new blog and there may be some rewards for your support. I am going to try very hard to keep it updated regularly with one or 2 new items every month. My new blogs address is www.crystalscustomclockscraftsandvinyl.blogspot.com  I also am thinking of doing a monthly craft club. If you would be interested in joining something like that let me know. We would do a craft of some sort every month and I would like to keep the cost down to $15 or less.  While I am here I might as well update you on everything else going on around here.

We are still working on our basement. The sheet rock is all hung and Eric is trading labor with a contractor friend of ours who is going to mud, tape, texture, paint, and glaze for us. Logan and Baylee are just DYING to get downstairs to have their own rooms but we won't have money for carpet for a while.
Logan, Baylee, and I decided to take the hunter's safety class together and we all passed. Baylee can't hunt till she is 10, but she will be ready to go as soon as her birthday comes. Logan is 10 and is allowed to hunt small game. He is excited to go pheasant hunting, but that makes me nervous because of the swinging motion that you make with the shotgun while hunting birds. It will be up to Eric to watch him and keep both of them safe. I know that with practice Logan is going to do just fine. I am excited to get out as well. It might sound crazy, but my first hunt is going to be for mountain lion. I want one in my living room bad. The first tag I draw for is going to be a mountain goat. I want a full body mount and hopefully it will be a beautiful one with long white hair. I know I am going to have to lose weight and get into shape to go get one of those. I am working on it.

Halloween is almost here and the kids don't know what they want to dress up as yet. Logan and Baylee don't seem to be that interested in dressing up this year...it is sad how fast they are growing up. Next they are going stop believing in Santa.  Hayden is potty trained now and that is WONDERFUL! It really was easy to train him too. Reagan thinks she is ready too and I think she is right. I will start working with her probably after Halloween.  Well that is about all that I can think of right now. We have all just been really busy and I am hoping that things will slow down soon. i am not looking forward to winter, but I love living out here where we have all the mountain views and can see all the pretty fall colors. We have had a deer up here and I saw about 6 pheasant in my back yard. I love that. That's all for now.  Have a happy and safe Halloween.

Summer Fun!

We have been SOOO busy the last few weeks and I am finally going to force myself to take a few minutes to update this blog even though no one reads it anymore. =)  Fathers Day weekend was the Teeter Family Reunion. We had a BLAST! Jo was able to pop up for a little while and brought grandma and grandpa Erickson with her. It was a real treat for all of us to get to visit with them and they really seemed happy to get out and about.

Some of the fun things we did while at reunion were eat deep fried oreos. Don't knock it till you try it, they were delicious!!  Of course there where s'mores and dutch oven potatoes and horseshoes. (some things never change) We also played softball, kickball and football. Of course we all got along and played by the rules ;)

 We took Logan and Baylee's new buggy out and ALL the kids had a blast on it! Clay took out his dirt bike and Burke taught Logan how to ride it. Pretty quick learner. Now if he can figure out the dishwasher.....



















It was awesome to get to spend that much time with everyone! We all had such a good time that we decided to have sort of a second reunion 2 weeks later. Unfortunately not everyone was able to show up for that trip but we did have a great time!!
In between reunion 1 and 2 we went to Richfield Ut. for my cousin April's wedding. It was nice to see family that I haven't seen in years and hang out and catch up. I didn't post many pictures, but since no one reads this any more then no one will mind. I can always make a slide show later.  The basement of our house is coming along nicely thanks to a lot of help from Eric's brother, Andy and my father in law, and of course Eric. I can't wait till that project is ALL done and we can finally focus on our huge, intimidating, yard. We are trying to get a sprinkler system put in so we can finish adding grass and trees. I know the yard will take me YEARS to get the way that I want it, but I want all the lines drawn so all I have to do it plant and walk away.  As the yard and basement progress I will post pictures. Purely for my own enjoyment though =)  Just kidding....well a little. 

Home on the range!!

Open Range that is.  We decided to trade in our trailer that we bought last year and buy a brand new 5th wheel. We have been looking at and researching these trailers for just over a year and we decided to go for it. We found them online and then they had one at the fair and we were hooked once we saw the quality of materials used.  It has hard wood 2 tone cabinets and corian counter tops, the queen mattress is a real queen size mattress that is surprisingly comfortable, 4 season rodent proof insulation, and 5 slides, and a fireplace.  The kids get the back of the trailer to themselves. There are 4 bunks and their own bathroom. We had our floor plan picked out and we were getting ready to order our custom trailer when we happened upon this one at a lot in Draper. It was the same as the one we were going to order.  So we went and looked at it and though it wasn't the interior colors we were going to put in ours, after seeing this scheme we actually liked it better.  It had everything we were going to put in ours so we brought it home.  We can't wait to get out and use it.  We have the Teeter family reunion this weekend and next weekend we are headed to southern Ut. for my baby cousin's wedding. On the way home we are going to park it at Lagoon. I am sure we will be doing a lot of traveling with our home away from home. HAPPY SUMMER!!

Upcoming Events!

Okay I have really gotten myself into a rut with this blog thing.  I know that I haven't updated as religiously as I used to.  Since we have moved into our new house we have just enjoyed the extra space and the ability to just hang out.  We aren't going going going all the time and it has been nice.  Since moving in Eric has started to finish the basement. We have had to tear down some of what the last people did and run new wire and we have started to sheet rock a few rooms.  I am hoping to have Baylee in her new room for her birthday.  We have also started on some of the yard work.  We had to have a grader come in and smooth out the terrain and haul in some dirt.  Then we planted some sod. We still have a long way to go as far as grass and trees and plants, but it sure has made a difference adding grass out front.  I really don't have much to report on right now but we do have a few things coming up that have the potential to be future blog posts.

School is out for summer and the kids are enjoying their time off by playing in the yard or hanging out with the kids next door.

In 2 weeks we have family reunion.  I am looking forward to camp fires, s'mores, dutch oven potatoes, and seeing the family.  Eric spends a lot of his time at reunions playing horse shoes. We bought the kids a new dune buggy and I know that they will enjoy themselves on that.

The weekend after we get back from reunion we are headed to southern Utah for my cousins wedding.  There should be some pretty pictures to share from that event.  I am looking forward to seeing that side of the family.  We never get to see them and it is such a fun crowd.

Mine and Eric's 11th anniversary is coming up on July 2nd.  I can't believe it has been that long already. When I think about it I start to feel old.  Logan will be driving in only 4 more years.  I have a hard time wrapping my head around the idea of  him driving a car so I try not to think about it too much.

That is about all that is going on here right now...I will try to get pictures on here soon of all these upcoming events.  Thanks for following my blog even though I am not great at updating it often.  Have a fun and safe summer!!

We've Moved!!

No more last minute house showings, no more inspections, no more appraisals, no more realtors!!! We are done with all that and are now living in our new home! It is such a nice feeling to be able to stretch out and relax. We haven't fully unpacked yet, but there is no hurry.  We have 30 years to get it done right? It came down to the wire in the end.  The couple that bought our house had to be out of their apartment by Thursday morning and we closed on the sale of our home and the purchase of the new house Wednsday morning.  With a lot of help we were able to move in 6 hours!! It was like ripping the band aid off quickly so there is less pain.  I have had a hard time letting go of our old house.  We basically built that house and Logan and Baylee have done most of their growing up there, and Hayden and Reagan took their first steps in that living room.  A lot of our families memories are wrapped up in that house and we will never forget our first "HOME"

We have been in the new house for almost a week and already I have noticed some big differences in our family.  Logan and Baylee don't fight as much as they did.  Hayden and Reagan don't seem as bored and haven't been as distructive as they were.  My stress is at a much healthier level.  Eric even seems happier and less stressed. I am posting some pictures of the house, but I haven't gotten it all decorated yet and the outside isn't all cleaned up yet.  Once we get it all put away and beautified I will post some new pictures.  We are having a landscape designer come in and work some magic with the yard.  It is 1 acre on a hill so it is a challenge and I don't even know where to start. I can't wait to see what he comes up with. We need grass!!!

We are also going to start finishing the basement in the next few weeks.  We were able to qualify for the government tax credit so thanks uncle sam for your contribution!  Right now the house is a 3 bedroom 2 bath with a laundry room on the main level. 2 car garage.  Once the basement is finished it will be a  7 (6 legal) bedroom since one room doesn't have a window it can't be counted as a bedroom...I will use that room for my vinyl and crafts. 3 bathroom, 2 living rooms, with a walk out basement. I can't wait to see it all finished!
Enjoy the pics!















Master Bedroom and walk in closet!

Master bath                                                                                                               Main Bath

Reagan's bedroom that the girls are sharing right now  









                                                                                                       Hayden's room that the boys are sharing

Living room

Kitchen and dining area


(Right)

My future vinyl and craft room

 downstairs bathroom
and spare bedroom.



 (right)

Logan's bedroom.  

Downstairs living room with walk out patio doors

Baylee's bedroom

 

 some of the views (they are gorgous)

 

 

SALE PENDING!

I know I haven't blogged in a long time, but I either haven't had anything to tell about or have just been too busy!  I will try to give a rundown of what has happened around here in the last 2 months since my last post. 

The end of January started off a month full of birthdays for us.  Reagan turned 2 on Jan. 30th, then Hayden turned 3 on Feb 7th, then I turned 21 on Feb. 24th ;) and finally Logan turned 10 at the end of Feb. (leap day child)  We have been trying to sell our starter home that we bought and completely remodeled 8 years ago since the end of September. Finally on the first Monday of March we got an offer.  We also had put an offer in on a new home in the Cub River area.  It was accepted and we are closing on both homes at the end of this month. We are very sad to leave our house.  We have so many memories here and the most wonderful neighbors in the world! (Seriously we won the lottery when it comes to neighbors) I remember when we first bought this house the doors that they had on it were interior doors and weren't keeping anything or anyone out.  That was the first thing we did when we got the keys was replace the exterior doors. In doing so we also noticed that the exterior walls weren't insulated and the wiring was ancient.  I picked up a hammer and whacked a big hole in the plaster and the rest is history as they say.  We basically rebuilt this place. Once we moved in we have potty trained 2 kids here, had birthday parties, Christmas parties, neighborhood bbq's, Hayden and Reagan where born while living here, the list goes on and on. I look around and see my personal touches everywhere.  I don't know the people we are selling to. Just that they are newly weds and don't have any kids yet.  I hope that they will make this home their own and enjoy it as much as we have.  They truely are getting more than they are paying for. I wish in the contract we could have put neighbors not included, but I know that they will be welcomed to the block and will really enjoy their new home.  Now let me tell you about the  new house.  It is only 4 years old, right now it is a 3 bedroom 2 bath home with beautiful knotty alder cabinets and hard wood floors and stainless steel appliances. It already has an rv pad poured for our camp trailer, a nice deck off the kitchen and big bedrooms with very spacious and organized closets.  Once we sign on the dotted line we will finish the basement making it a 7 (6 legal) bedroom 3 bath home with another living room and walk out basement.  All the kids will have their own bedrooms which they are very excited about. I will have a room for my vinyl cutter and all my scrapbooking and crafts, and we will still have one room left for any guests that come to see us.  Oh did I mention 1.07 acres!  I am very excited about that. Even though the house is 4 years old no one has touched the yard. It is a blank slate.  I have a ton of ideas for the yard starting with a sprinkler system and sod.  I hope my bank account will support my big ideas! LOL  We hope to be spending Easter in our new home. 

Eric also got a new job! It is with the same company, but a different position.  He is now a crane operator.  He gets to enjoy air conditioning in the summer and a heater in the winter.  It also isn't going to be hard on his body so hopefully we can avoid a lot of surgeries that many of they guys who work out there end up having.  (knee, back, and shoulder)  His new job has come at a great time. New job comes with a very nice raise which will come in very handy with our new mortgage.


Other than selling the house and birthdays we have been really sick around here.  It started with me getting a sore throat, nasty cough, body aches. The works. Then just when I started feeling like I was getting over that I started having really bad chest pains and back pain. I went to the E.R. and at first they thought I was having a heart attack. After 4 hours of tests including urine sample, blood work, E.K.G., x-ray. G.I. cocktail, IV injected dye and a cat scan they concluded that they have no idea what's wrong with me.  I can't wait to see THAT bill.  Don't you think if you go through all that and they can't tell you what's wrong and fix it your visit should be free?  Thankfully I am feeling better and whatever was wrong isn't anymore.  Then Baylee somehow got shingles! Yes I said shingles.  No she has never had chicken pox. This is Baylee she NEVER gets sick and has the immune system like a steel bunk house.  Medical mysteries around here I am telling you.  They started on the back of her neck then spread around her left shoulder and left side of her chest.  She got a week out of school but is looking much better now. She will be going back to school on Tuesday.  Hayden and Reagan both have the stomach flu and are miserable! I feel so bad for them. They have had it for 2 days now and I am hoping tomorrow they will be back to normal.  I know it has to be stress that is making us all so suseptable  to all this gunk.  Hopefully it will all be over soon and we will be done with the buying and selling a house and with the illnesses.   I am sooo looking forward to that!  So I guess I had more to talk about than I thought.  I will post again once we have moved and I will post pictures of the new house and of the finishing of the basement.  Until then HAPPY SPRING!!

Is There Anyone Out There???

Okay so I am really wondering if there is anyone out there reading this blog or if I am just typing to myself. I update and post pictures but no one comments. What gives?  I know we don't have the most interesting lives but hey we try.  The last 4 or 5 posts have no comments. The comments that I have on my Veterans Day post were from last year when I posted it. I am still on here following blogs and commenting on them so the ones doing the blog know,  hey someone is reading this, I should keep it updated.  For all I know, no one has looked at this thing for months! So what I am asking is simple. If you stop by and read this thing and enjoy the pictures, the stories, the music, or hey even if you think the pictures, stories, and music suck...tell me about it so I at least know someone is looking at this so I am not wasting an hour updating it. Thank you!

New Years Eve

Every year we have a New Years party and my cousin Ryan and his wife Meg come up and we hang out. This year we were able to get my sister over here and she brought Colton and Rose with her.  My brother and sisters have a different dad than I do and 2 days ago thier dad passed away from cancer.  Dee wasn't thinking she would be good company, but we persuaded her to come over anyway and forget for a little while. 

We had a BLAST! We played Texas hold em and Logan kicked our butts. This kid is taking us to Vegas in a few years. I swear we didn't let him win. I was his first victim and I wasn't getting any good cards.  He was getting all the hands. Way to go Logan!

 Then we played Rock Band until about 2:30 am.  Ryan is king of the micraphone, but struggled to read the words on the screen after having a few drinks.  His wife Meg is pregnant this year with thier first baby, so we made sure to have "mocktails" here for her and the kids.  The kids enjoyed strawberry daquiries and shirly temples, and toasting with sparkling cider.  The rest of us enjoyed our shots and cocktails provided by our in house bar tender (Eric)  The party wound down around 2:30 am and in the morning poor Ryan was tossing his cookies.  Poor guy. lol  Him and Hayden had a disagreement last night when Ryan head butted Haydens bouncy horse and Hayden jumped off the couch and tackled Ryan and licked his face. It was soooo funny because Ryan didn't see any of it coming. His face afterward was priceless. Thank goodness I had my camera. The night was full of group singing and duets. Drums, guitars and jokes. I can't wait till next year.  Hopefully next year we will be in a much bigger house and a bigger house means a bigger party with more friends and family. 2009 was pretty good to us, but I hope 2010 will be even better. I hope the economy recovers, more jobs are available, and that everyone will be happy and healthy. Here's to a healthy and prosperous 2010! CHEERS!

Dee and the kids just showed up and

 Logan was just about to win the texas hold 'em game

Logan winning the last of everyones chips

Dee and Rose when they first got here

We had to get Dee caught up to us!

This was a copper camel I think

Colton and Rose enjoying thier "mocktail"

strawberry daquari

Eric, Ryan, and me doing depth charges!

Chug! Chug! Chug!

Eric playing bartender.

He is so good at it too.

Time for some rock band!

Obviously Eric is excited to play

Ryan is King of the microphone

Dee and Rose singing a duet

Eric's turn on guitar

Eric just goofing off.

Ryan demonstrating how to do a proper pirouette!

He takes so much crap from us.

What a good sport

Hayden when he tackled Ryan and

licked his face for head butting his horse

Ryan's face after. I can't tell if he is laughing or

saying ewww!  Hayden thought it was funny though lol!

Don't mess with a kids horse man!

Christmas

Okay I admit that I have fallen behind on my blog! For some reason my computer has really limited what I can do on it so I have avoided the frustration. We survived Christmas, and I can't believe how fast it came. I swear it was only a short time ago that we were out camping and all of a sudden there is snow on the ground neighbors with treats at our door and a big green tree in our living room. How does the time manage to sneak by so fast? I think we had a very good Christmas this year. Work has really slowed down for Eric, but right before Christmas he had 2 weeks of overtime because some guys at work are out for surgery. We pulled it all together last minute and I think the kids got just about everything they asked for. Logan and Baylee are getting to the age that they are really questioning the existence of Santa. They wrote him a letter, but refused to tell us what they asked for in order to find out if he is real or not. Well Santa came and they both got things that were on their lists so I think we can get another year of believing out of them. (Fingers crossed) I think it is so sad when kids stop believing. My parents never came out and told me, so I still believe. Sad I know. I know there isn't the jolly elf with the white beard and reindeer but I believe that Santa is that little warm feeling you get around the holidays that makes you forgive the driver in front of you that just cut you off in traffic, and pick a name off the giving trees to give presents to kids who won't get anything if you don't give. When you hold the store doors open for strangers even though you are in a hurry to get in and get out. Santa is the look on your kids faces when they come out Christmas morning to a tree full of presents with their names on them, and the tingling feeling you get knowing you put that look there. I am so glad that we were able to make our kids smile again this year, and I hope that if they do stop believing in Santa the magical man that they will understand that Santa the magical feeling is very real.



This year Eric got a new snow plow for the rhino because I broke the home made one that came with it. Long story. lol He also got a lot of craftsman tools so he can fix anything else I might break in the future Ha ha!

I got clothes and some photography books and a new purse.

Logan got his bakuban balls that he wanted. I have no idea what the draw is to them but I was just happy they weren't expensive. He also got the eye clops night vision goggles he asked for and a bunch of finger skateboards and build a park accessories to make half pipes and grinding rails, and clothes, snow boots and snow pants and gloves.

Baylee got the girl gourmet cup cake maker/decorator and a make your own finger nail polish machine and clothes and boots, gloves, snow suit and hat and scarf

Hayden got a Mr potato head with lots of extras and a new bike and clothes and neat things called magniformers

Reagan got a new cabbage patch baby that she had to open to see if it was a boy or girl. It was a girl and her name is Patricia Shirley, but we call her Patty. She got a doll house, and clothes, and her and Hayden got some bouncy animals that they just LOVE.

After opening gifts and playing with everything for a while, we had our traditional king crab legs dinner. It was delicious!

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas this year! I hope that you were surrounded by friends and family and warmed by the spirit of the season. I also wish you all a Happy New Year, full of hope for the future, jobs that pay well, bills that are paid, and all the happiness you can handle.

Just Hitched!

Ladies and Gentlemen I would like to announce the marriage of my Nephew Justin to Stephanie. They said "I Do" on November 27th in front of all their friends and family. I have been privileged to have a part in this event starting when Justin asked me to photograph his proposal to Stephanie at the Skeet War memorial horse race. Then the couple asked me to do their engagement photos. I was shocked when Stephanie asked me to be her maid of honor, but of course I said yes. Steph also asked me to do her bridals and photograph the wedding and reception. Now I wasn't able to take the pictures during the ceremony since I was a part of it, but I did hand off my camera to my mother in law. After the ceremony was over I took over and I have posted some of the bridal shots and wedding photos. The lighting was really bad at the church and I have asked Santa for some new equipment that would really help out next time, but I did my best and I think they still turned our pretty good. Congratulations "Fred & Snarfie" Thanks for letting me be a part of your special day. I really hope that you enjoy your pictures and when you go back and look at them through the years that you will be reminded of your special day and love you share. I love you guys. Congrats again!

Our Veterans