Who needs a general contractor?

So who needs a general contractor when you have 3 motivated women with power tools? Not me I say. Last Thursday two of my best friends from the good old Washington Terrace 4th ward came over to help me take out some carpet and replace it with laminet flooring. When Rob left for work the plan was just to have a demo day...but things turned out a little differently. Demo took about an hour and a half and we planned the whole day so we moved on. We got the flooring layed completely and Rob was shocked when he came home. Who's the coolest wife in the world? Yeah, I am. Here's the pics to capture the days activities.
The pink is the carpet pad and the kids are walking on the roll of carpet. I did this part myself by the way. Really I feel this was most of my contribution. That and I bought lunch.


Here is my friend Emily. She was the master-putter-inner with the tongue and groove laminet.

Here is Sharon. She was the master mind behind the whole project cause we just did her house last month so she knew all the advised from the Home Depot guy.
Here's me cutting out the heat vent. (Side note: I ran into the side of the vent and can't get the cover to fit all the way. So this job is actually being delegated to Rob. However I did get most of the wood cut out).
And here is the near finished product. It looks so good and I love it. It took all day but we had a good time. NEXT UP: painting walls and painting and installing baseboards. I'll keep you posted.

PS Coop won out on the new template. Sorry Colie, this one's totally cheesy I know.

IS ROB REALLY THAT OLD?

Yeah, well so it seams. This post is mostly just to make you all feel sorry for me, so if you do then my work here is done. Let me share a little story. About two weeks ago Rob got a phone call from the Stake President's Executive Secretary. Should that have worried us? Yes. Did it? Yes. So we worried until Saturday when Rob called his Dad and asked him what callings only the Stake President could give. Well it just so happens that there are only a small handful of callings that the Stake President will give and High Counsel is one of them. So if you're wondering if I'm going to be a single mom with four kids under the age of 6 sitting through sacrament meeting
I can answer that in the affirmative. Yes, that's right folks, Big Rob is now a High Counselman and I will be sitting alone with my children on Sundays. I guess I'm kind of exagerating in that area because people in the ward have offered to help (the wife of the counselor who extended Rob the calling being one). Any offers to take my children to church with them on Sundays from here on out will gladly be accepted. Offer your condolenses (like everybody in my ward did after congratulating Rob and telling him what a wonderful job he will do) in the comments.
PS I really am excited for Rob and know he will do a good job. Just keeping you posted on our lives:)

MY BRAGGING RIGHTS

So occasionally I have days where I think "I'm the luckiest mom in the world". Yesterday was one of those days. Blessing #1:Rob had to work in the morning (nothing new) but he actually got off at a decent time and took Abby with him to run some errands while I took a nap with the other two. Blessing #2: We went to a friend's wedding last night and when we got home 6 of my friends were parked in front of my house to take me out to Chili's for my birthday. Who doesn't love their chocolate molten cake?! We chatted, laughed and vented until about 10:45, good times. I love you guys! Blessing #3: upon arriving home at about 11:00 (after getting Emily's minivan unstuck from in front of Michelle's house...hilarious) I walked in to find all of the kids asleep, downstairs, with Rob, in the tent. How hot is my husband?! He is such a fun dad (sorry I hate it when people say stuff like that on their blog, but sometimes it really needs to be said). So I got to sleep in my own bed (all alone was sad, but I got over it) and didn't have to worry about anybody coming in in the night to announce they had to go potty, just to have me tell them to go ahead and go. I love announcements like that. Or worry about Shelby waking up so that I can go back in and cover her up and say goodnight again. Love her. Anywho, just thought I'd brag a bit about how lucky I am. Now for some pics...And the stockings were hung by the (window) with care. Go ahead and take a closer look...
Yeah, that's right, this is the new addition to our Christmas decorations this year. My very talented friend Heidi made these for us. She is a champ at the old sewing machine so I hired her out. We love 'em.
I love that Rob's mom made these guys do this picture again. So every year from when these guys moved into this house (30+ years) they have had this picture taken. When someone leaves they aren't in the picture anymore. So Brian has been in there alone for a few years since Cheryl got married. Bri, the one in red for you single ladies, just got home from his mission this year so all seven are back together again and good old Barb made them hop in there places once again. Love her. (PS, if you didn't know these are all Rob's siblings) Thanks for the extra pose Christy!Every year Santa comes around on the fire engine and the firemen give out candy canes. You can't tell in this picture but it was terrible weather this year, a blizzard I dare say, but we still braved it and got our candy canes.Here is a picture from Rob's parents house at the Christmas gathering. It is total pandemonium, but my favorite party of the year with his family. You can only see 13 grandkids, but the total is 17 with one more due at the end of this month and ours due in April. PANDEMONIUM I TELL YA!And here is a picture of our Christmas morning. I love this! Wrapping paper everywhere, toys everywhere, chocolate being eaten at 7:00 in the morning. This is great. We read Luke 2 the night before with the manger scene in the lower left hand corner and let the kids put the characters in when we read about them. Is it a problem that we already lost Baby Jesus? Is he vital in this story? Riiiiight. So we pulled another Baby Jesus out of my nice porcelain one and he worked just fine. I love my Little People Nativity scene though cause the kids can play with it and it's not a big deal (of course until they lose Baby Jesus:)Here is the first day of the new year in primary and since I have a new Sunbeam I decided to take pictures of everybody cause they all looked cute. Here's Abby, the poser.
Here's my new little sunbeam. Doesn't he look handsome. The tie even stayed on all day.
And, of course, don't forget Shelby. Yeah, she looks like she got into a brawl before this picture. We're just happy she's smiling.

I think that about covers the bragging for now. Sorry I tend to go on but I like to go into detail for posterity purposes. Until next time...