Where has the time gone?

You thought I was just neglecting my blog.. but really I was waiting to make the largest post in history! So here it goes. We have had so much going on let's hope I can remember it all and get it in order. The last post was mid November YIKES!!

We purchased a commercial cleaning business in October and began all the training and taking over accounts in November. We have been so crazy busy trying to manage and run this little business. Its all the business' fault I don't hardly blog anymore. We have gone through so many employees in such a short amount of time. AND We have had to clean ourselves when our staff decides not to show up. So we have spent a lot of late nights cleaning.

Reese turned 18 months old on December first and officially became a member of the nursery. When I say officially... I mean because she had been going for a few weeks already. Kevin would always tell me that he would keep her so I could go to Young Women's and then I would see him around and she wasn't with him. The whole time he was cheating and dropping her off in nursery! Our friends the Crookstons were the nursery leaders and Reese is obsessed with their 2 little boys and they didn't mind. Here is a picture on her "official" first day. She got a picture of the prophet and loves it. I put it up in her room and everyday she points and says "prodet".



The holidays are kind of a blur now. We went to CA for Thanksgiving. It was such a quick trip, that I didn't get any pictures taken.

December 12th I flew to Utah to help my sister in law Andrea do some work on her new house. Kevin's brother Clinton and his wife (Andrea) bought a house in West Jordan and are anxiously waiting to move there. We spent 12-16 hour days painting and shopping for new furniture to get ready for Christmas. It was a fun time. Here is a picture of me on an extension ladder painting. I am extremely afraid of heights so it was only for the love of a finished project that I risked my life!



Christmas... I think we slept through most of it. I am lucky that I got Christmas Cards out. If you didn't get one, its probably because I don't have your address. My friend Meredith created my Christmas card for me. She is so amazingly talented. I had the most incredible tree this year. My friend Alisha came over with her 4 adorable children and helped me decorate my tree, actually I sat back and watched them do all the work. Alisha is a professional Interior Designer and I work for her part time as her office manager. She suprised me with the most gorgeous tree decorations and made my christmas tree look better than the Nordstrom lobby tree! It was a fun night.



Here is our Christmas card



Our ward Christmas party was fun. Kevin had to MC the event so of course Reese wanted to stand at the front of the room with him. She thought she was the star of the show. I always get so embarrased when parents let their kids run free and humiliate themselves and now I am one of those moms. Reese wouldn't stay anywhere near me and kept following Kevin around, dancing, singing, it was funny. Then Santa came out and behind Reese so she didn't see him and all the sudden she turned around, and immediatly panicked, started crying and became so disoriented and didn't know where she was or couldn't see Kevin and I right in front of her. So I am sure you could guess that the Santa picture didn't turn out so great.

Before Santa


After Santa

(I think the picture is blury from laughing so hard while trying to focus)

We decided to stay in AZ for Christmas this year. It was my first time ever away from home for the holidays. It wasn't too bad. We had to clean on Christmas Eve and we got home about 3am and by the time we were ready for bed it was 4 am. We slept in as long as we could and Reese woke us up about 9am She was so excited, we hardly got any still photos and mostly video taped everything. Reese got so many fun presents. We went to Todd & Minda Pacheco's for the most amazing Christmas breakfast. Reese all the sudden got sick so we headed home, she was down the rest of the day with 102 temp. She finished opening her presents the next day when she felt better. Here is a picture of Reese talking to her Uncle Michael in her wagon Santa brought her.



Here is Reese and Kevin going on a bike ride the day after Christmas



We had so much fun in December singing Christmas songs with Reese. Just today she kept singing "Ho-Ho-Ho..Santa". She doesn't understand why we arn't singing those songs anymore.

Oh yeah...So 3 days after Christmas I came down with Strep Throat. No big deal, I have had it before, its quite painful but after some medication its managable. So I get rid of it and then 1 week later it comes back with a vengenence! I was laid up for 3 days. I couldn't move, walk, even look and anything moving. It was so awful. So I go back to the doctor just to be told that "yep its strep again". So that stunk. Then I got better a few days later and go about my normal schedule and a week and half later, what do you know... Strep AGAIN!! What in the world?? 3 times in 1 month. I know what you are all thinking, that I never got rid of it to begin with. Which could be true but regardless I felt like I had Strep all month. It was seriously so painful.
So our New Years was a bust and we were both in bed by 9pm sick as dogs, Oh yeah..did I mention that Reese and Kevin got it the 3rd time around??




January 10th the best day ever!! So most of you know the struggle we had with Reese's adoption. On January 10th we had a court hearing to finalize Reese. It was such a great day. Here is a picture with the judge that finalzed it for us. They kept asking a bunch of Yes and No questions in the hearing and Reese just kept answering "YES" to the judge, she kept everyone laughing. The judge and secretary knew of our situation from reviewing the file and were so happy for us. It was such a personal hearing and truely a great experience. YEAH, Reese is officially ours!!



After the court hearing we went to lunch at the Rain Forest Cafe. I had never been and I don't know when I will rush back there. The food really isn't great but Reese loved the animal atmosphere.




January 19th Kevin's Mom and Sister Shannon and her husband Jason and son Drake came to visit. We went to the ZOO and had so much fun. Its always fun to have family come visit.



So on February 16th we were finally able to take Reese to the Temple and have her sealed to us for time and all eternity. It was the most amazing experience ever. I think it deserves a post all on its own.