Basketball time

It is basketball time again. Ashley played in her first game today. She was so excited to play this season. McKinnlie her best friend is on her team and her coach is her PE teacher. She also knows a few other girls from past seasons and soccer.

It is going to be a great season. I love watching her play.

Allison's basketball season also started today but she didn't get to play. A couple of weeks ago in practice she fell and hit her head and had a concussion. She was starting to feel better and I thought that she would be able to play in her first game of the season but on Thursday this week while she was sitting out in PE she got hit in the head with a ball. The headache is back and we are playing the waiting game for her to be cleared to play again.

It is hard seeing her sit on the side line because I know how much she wants to play. I hope my girls have better luck next year and don't have to sit out.

First Date

Madison has been anxiously awaiting to go on her first date. There is a girls ask guys dance this month at school and she has been trying to get the nerve up to ask out this boy at church but realized that it was harder then she thought so wasn't going to ask him.
Today while she was at physical therapy Micah the boy from church came over with flowers. Kevin answered the door and he ask if Madison was home. Kevin explained where she was and then Micah said he wanted to ask her to the Valentines Stake dance. Kevin told him that he would have Madison call him when she got home.
Kevin ran over to get her and went into the office with the flowers and Madison didn't believe Kevin. She thought he bought the flowers to play a joke on her. He finally got her convinced and she could not stop smiling.

Next Saturday she goes on her first date.

Basketball

Tonight Meridian high girls played in the last game of the season. Madison has been feeling really good and tomorrow she should be cleared to resume normal activity. She has been itching to play in a game. Creech told her that if there was an opportunity for her to play at the end he would put her in for 5 seconds or so. She was so excited that he said he might put her in. The game was coming to an end tonight and it was looking like she was not going in and then with 9 seconds left he called a time out and Madison went to go check in. She had the biggest grin on her face. She threw the ball in and then there was some passing around of the ball before Madison shot and mad it. The team was playing against Eagle who was in first place so they were down by quit a bit but when Madison made her shot the crowd cheered like she had just won the game. So many people were excited that she was able to play for a few seconds this season. She has been greatly missed and she felt very loved tonight.

Licensed driver

Madison is now a licensed driver. She passed her written test.

I kind of have mixed emotions about this. She is a safe driver and pretty responsible but it is still hard to let her go. First of all she is directionally challenged. All my friends said that driving helps with that but I am still worried that she is going to get lost. I don't know how parents did it before cell phones. At least I know she always has that on her so she can call me. Also, I know this is the first step in her independence and it just doesn't seem that she is old enough. Where has the time gone?

I did get a taste of how nice it is going to be though tonight. She had to be at the high school for a game and I didn't have to run her to drop her off. I know tomorrow when I get to sleep in when she goes to her team breakfast that I will be liking it too.

Tonight was the pink out game. Madison had a lot of fun getting all dressed up to cheer on the Varsity. I think she is starting to feel more normal again since her surgery. It is fun to see her have fun with her friends.

It is almost done

This morning we went by the house to meet with someone to have our windows measured for blinds. There were so many people there working.

It is so exciting to see so many cars in front of the house. We are down to the wire.

Carpet went in yesterday and we didn't have a chance to go by and see it so today was the first time that we saw it. I can't believe how much carpet really makes things seem finished and some of the rooms seem bigger too.

The carpet is the final piece to the puzzle of our house and I love how everything looks together.

The cabinet doors also got installed today.

I love them even more.

Our bathtub in our master bath has also went in. I have missed being able to soak in a bath. I have told Kevin that soaking in that bath might be the first that I do when move in.

The last thing that went in today was the doors. I have been waiting to see the front door on. I am so excited that Kevin agreed to have a red front door. I love the way that it looks.

Fifteen more days and we can call it home. We are all so excited we can hardly wait.

Busy Saturday

We had a busy day today. Our day started out with a baptism. Daniel from our old ward was baptized this morning. Kevin and I were his nursery leaders when he was younger. He was born with Cerebral Palsy and has wanted to get baptized for a long time. He is such a special little boy and I am so glad that we were able to be there and share in his special day.

After the baptism I headed out to Kuna for to hang out with my friends and get a little quilting done. We are all taking a quilting class and working on a monthly wall hanging. Quilting has always interested me. I love learning new techniques. We worked on February's today. I didn't get it finished but love how it is coming together so far.

Kevin had his hands full while I was in Kuna. He first took Madison for her drivers test. She is a good driver but I was so worried about this test. I didn't have to do a drivers test when I got my license and I think that is why I was so nervous. I didn't know what to expect. Well she did a great job and passed. Now she just has to pass the written test and then she will be a licensed driver. We will go do that Friday after she takes her finals. I am trying to prepare myself for her driving on her own.

Finally we ended our day with a little party for Allison. She has wanted to have a birthday party for the past couple years but it is always so busy around her birthday that we just never get around to it. She has been struggling with friends lately so we really wanted to have this little party for her. She had a great time and I love all of her friends. This move has been good for her. There are so many girls her age and most of them will live just around the corner from our new house. I am glad for these new friends. She has been pretty sad and missing some of her old friends since we moved. I know we didn't move that far but apparently it was too far for some people to remain friends with her.

I love to see her smile.

Looking good

We were not able to get into the house yesterday to see if they did anything. The girls think Kevin and I are a little obsessed, especially Madison. She only goes in to see the house when she is prodded along to. She says she will get excited about the house when we move in. Allison and Ashley do show more excitement then her but not as obsessed as Kevin and I. Today Kevin had to drop something off at the house and we were hoping that it was open so we could see the progress. Thankfully it was and we were so happy to see that the counter tops were in on the main floor. I love the granite. I think that the contrast of the white cabinets and the dark granite looks so good.

They also worked on the tile back splashes. Over the last couple months I have worried if everything we picked would go together. It is looking good. I don't know why I worried. We had the help of an interior designer.

In the master and powder baths we decided to put a white counter with the darker cabinets.

Quartz is also more durable then granite so we thought with straighteners it would hold up better. The back splashes also were completely finished in the master bath. I love how it all ties in with the shower. The powder is slightly different in what we picked.

The rest of the counters should be finished tomorrow.

Tonight I was looking at the schedule and it looks like if they stay on schedule everything should be done next Friday. The next week will just be touch ups and making sure everything is done correctly. The final week is cleaning and we are then we move in. This has been a long process and there has been many times that I never thought that I would see the light at the end of the tunnel.

After looking at the house Madison and I went to Relief Society. Brother Mitchell her seminary teacher from last year who has since retired was speaking and she ask if she could tag along. She came home all of the time telling me how much she enjoyed seminary. I was very interested to hear him speak. He spoke on scripture study. I know why she enjoyed him so much now. When he was done I didn't even notice that an hour and a half had went by. He had some helpful tips at making scripture study more meaningful and on getting it done. Sometimes I walk away from meetings like this and feel so overwhelmed and like such a failure but he did not make me feel that way at all. He said that the best way to start reading the scriptures daily is by starting with just 10 seconds a day. I was a little shocked at first but then he explained that time will come but the habit needs to be set first. No wonder so many of his students that I knew in my old ward always talked about how they had made scripture study a habit in their daily life. I like his approach to be realistic and set achievable goals. It was a great evening and Madison loved visiting with Brother Mitchell again. She wishes that he wouldn't have retired.

My favorite quote from the night. Do you see Heavenly Father as a repair man? (I think that I need to frame this.)

Stripes

The stripes in Allison and Ashley's rooms are done. I love them. I can not believe how they turned out. They did such a great job. Allison says hers looks like wallpaper. They did such an amazing job. They turned out better then I could have imagined.

Allison and Ashley were grinning from ear to ear when we took them over to see them.

They also installed some more lights.

I love all of the lights but I am having a hard time with this one. Kevin loves it so we won't be switching it out. He has conceded so much for me. I am sure that they will grow on me.

The next few days are pretty busy at the house and exciting. Counter tops should be going in. I am so excited. I love how everything is coming together. When we picked everything out it looked good together but you never know if it is going to look as good as you imagined. Well it is looking better then I imagined. I feel like it is Christmas every day when something is new done on the house.

Lights

A lot was going on at the house today. The AV guys were there working on the finishing up the wiring. The electricians were there and they started installing the lights. I was so excited to see the lights in the house.

I love what was installed today and I can't wait to see the rest tomorrow.

The painters were also at the house painting the girls room. We really want them to make their rooms their own and special so we let them pick out what color they wanted them painted. We got all the colors picked out on Saturday and they started painting today. It isn't all completed but it was exciting to see what was done today.

Madison chose a pretty gray for three of her walls and then orange for the wall that her bed that is going on. It is a pretty orange that will look nice with the comforter that she got for Christmas.

Allison has had this picture in her head of what she wants her room to look like. Her walls are pink and then the wall that her bed will be on will have grey strips down them. It is going to look so nice. I can't want to see it finished tomorrow.

Ashely's room is blue and she will have two purple strips horizontally across the room. She is so funny because she chose very carefully because she didn't want it too girly. She loves the blue and can't wait to see the stripes tomorrow. I am glad the girls are happy.

Working at the house

The AV guys are going to come on Monday and start to finish all the wiring out on the house. Kevin had some work that he needed to get done on his server before they came so was working on it today.

I can't believe how fast things are moving along now.

Madison warming up

Madison started physical therapy this week and she is making some great progress. She started this week out with a limp and now most of it is gone. She has mainly been working on her movement on her leg. She can not straighten her leg completely or bend it completely. She has been doing a little more in basketball but still can't play in games. Tonight she felt well enough to warm up with her team before the game.

She made me nervous but promised that she wouldn't push too hard. I know that it is killing her not to be able to play.

Celebration

We had some big plans for Madison's 16th birthday but Madison was not in much of a mood to celebrate since she was on crutches. Now that she is off crutches and feeling more like herself we went out and celebrated. She ask if a few of her friends could stay the night at a hotel. We started our evening with a nice dinner at Zuppas.

After dinner we headed over to the hotel. I tried to stay out their way as much as possible so there is not many pictures. Madison had a lot of fun with her friends. I am glad that we were able to turn her 16th birthday around and make it a good memory for her.

House

We went by the house again tonight to see what we missed last night when my phone died. All the cabinets are in. It was nice being able to take a look at the girls bathroom. They are going to have so much room in there. I hope that it will alleviate some of the fighting.

Two sinks and a separate room for the shower and toilet. They should be able to get along and share. We can hope. The floor also was in in Kevin's office.

It has been awhile since anything has been done in his room so he will be happy to see the progress when he gets back from Salt Lake tomorrow. Some of the tile has also been filled in with grout. Before the grout went in this piece of the shower looked a little off to me. Now with the grout I love it.

It is fun to see all the progress. I can't wait for it all to be done. It was also nice to see that our lights were delivered. I can't wait to see those go in and be reminded of what we picked.

1 more month

In one month we close on our house. Some days it seems like it has happened all so fast and then other days it feels like it has been forever. The girls and I popped in really quick this evening to see what has been done this week. As we walked in from the garage I heard squeals from Allison and Ashley. The kitchen cabinets are all in. Now it doesn't look like one big room. I love to see how excited they are for the house. Madison says she will get excited when we actually live in it.

I have been anxious to see how much storage that we are going to have in the kitchen. I do not know how I am ever going to fill all the cabinets up but after the small kitchen that I have cooking in it is going to be a relief.

I also love all the space in the cabinets in the master bath.

What are we going to do with all that storage? I am so excited to get organizing. I miss having everything in it place. This limbo state has been frustrating because when I need something that I know I have but just don't know where it is. I can't wait to have a house of order again.

Kevin pushed that the laundry room be a good size. He knows how picky that I am about laundry and he wanted me to have a nice place to do it.

I don't know what I will do with so much space. It will be nice to have a counter to fold the laundry on. My phone died after this so we didn't get to explore the rest of the cabinets because it was too dark. I can't wait to go back tomorrow.

Pictures

Today we were a little crazy and went to take pictures. It was cold outside but the girls were good sports. We headed out of the car but after a few shots some got cold and went back to the car. I had suggested that they stay in the car till it was their turn. We had fun and got some good pictures. The coloring is a little off but nothing some edits can't fix.

Allison's 13 year old pictures.

Madison's 16 year old pictures.

The Girls all together.