Sunbrook Progress

We worked out a deal where they are going to let us keep the scaffolding in the living room.

Master bedroom with a trayed ceiling, it's waiting for me to mount a fan & light.

some strange wall texture Janna chose.

Rylee runs by our stack of bricks.

Rat's can do the Wheelbarrow?

It's true, we bid Bianca a sad farewell this week, she passed away on Wednesday night. We saw it coming and endured two days of rough emotions as we were helpless to heal her. You might say, "good riddance!" If so, I would say you are blatantly misinformed about rats. We have known since we got her that the lifespan of a rat is very short (2 years on average), but that doesn't make it any easier for two little girls who were very fond of her. She loved to come out of her cage and play with the girls everyday. She never once bit anyone or complained about being forced to do the wheelbarrow (Rylee). When hamsters or gerbils escape they hide and don't want to be found. Rats escape because they are stunningly smart and just want to explore. After a few minutes of exploring Bianca would get lonely and want to be where the people are and would climb right into your lap. The jury is still out whether we will replace her with another rat or try a different pet. If rat's lived at least 10 years, there would be no question about it - we would get at least two more. We buried her across the street from our new home in an area that will remain undeveloped and the girls marked the spot with two yellow roses.

In better news, Lauren completed her next course in swimming lessons and officially has been labeled as a fish. She jumps off the diving board in the deep end and can swim all the way across at age 6. She says she want's to swim in the olympics - at this point Janna and I are thinking: "Well, why not?"

Rylee decided to cut her own hair. Those bangs didn't stand a chance.

Bedtime can be entertaining. Fairy stories, gas, princess pajama's, and night shades.

Lauren's idea. "Dad, let's take a picture wearing mustaches." Man, I wish I could come up with ideas as cool as this.

Jan 10th - 20th

View from the back yard.

View from the living room window. Maybe we should leave it like this - it gives a more "open" feeling.

1st floor is completed, begin on 2nd floor.

Snow in the pantry, in the kitchen, in the hallway. . . it was a little discouraging.

Mark and Janna

Dance of the Sugar Plum Kitchen Fairies

This is the "make dinner faster!" dance. . . you should see my version of this.

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My favorite part of this picture is not that my new house is in the background, it's Rylee in her bright pink coat sporting a sweet & sour grin.

We collect Tiaras. Blue ones, pink ones, fuzzy ones, sparkly ones, you name it we collect it.

I just had to throw this one in here. Lauren is working on her crystal growing project for Kindergarden. Obviously, this picture didn't make it onto her display board at the contest. But if I were the judge I would have awarded her something just for this picture. "Most enthusiastic about Crystals."

This is our new game. Toss the socks up into the chandelier and see if you can get it to hang on the brass rungs. Then see how long it can stay there before mom notices.

Stupid pumpkins

Lumber, Lumber, Lumber

January 13th.

January 16th

Bring some more wood.

'Scootin' away cabin fever

Breaking Ground

Well, it's official. They finally broke ground on our new home on Wednesday this week. They say it will take 90 days + weather days from the day they break ground. If that's true then we should be moving in sometime in the last half of March.

WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 16TH

Janna is working today, so me and the girls took a few minutes to go check out the footings that were just poured this morning. The cement was still steaming when I took this shot.

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 18TH

Rylee keeps asking: "Where's our house dad?" She doesn't understand my explanation but she's still glad for the chance to have her picture taken anyway.

I have no explanation for this... Well, maybe I can sum it up in just a few words: Rylee & Lauren.

It finally snowed in Ogden, and it really snowed. This is our snow turtle. We were bored of a regular snowman - everyone already has one.

Unknown Emotion

Enjoy your chocolate, no matter what you look like. Is she just mid-blink, sleepy, or about to sneeze?

The last 'Call girl' has found her match. Adrian will be the new Mrs. Tyler Gibb this March.

Dad Call is finally getting more boys in this girl dominated family. Tyler fits right in with his love for soccer and snowboarding. And my girls are convinced he's magic.

Way to go Adrian and Tyler, we're excited for you guys!

This is just the artist's rendition of our house in the works. The finished product will be a little different, but this is the jest of it. I wish the trees appeared as effortlessly as an artist's brush stoke. We'll have our work cut out for us starting over on a garden and unfinished basement. We are anxious for apartment living to be over :) Hopefully by March.

This is our temporary mailing address:

2637 N. Washington Blvd. #302

N. Ogden. UT 84414

This photo was one Mark found on Nana and Papa's camera when he went for baby Annie's blessing a few weeks ago. (Thanks, Robin for feeding and watering my sweetheart, he had a fantastic time! Annie's a keeper, what a beauty!)

This photo's classic as it captures Carl teaching a fasinating fact from his every learning mind and Paula's beautiful smile enjoying every minute.

Catching up. . .

When Lauren's at school Rylee enjoys full reign of entertaining Bianca, the rat.

What a spoiled rat!

During my latest shift at the hospital a new game was invented involving socks on the lovely 1960's chandelier in our department (the girl's name for our apartment :) It was tons of fun until Rylee commented, 'Dad, it smells like popcorn'. I guess fried socks and popcorn have similar smells.

You can have a lovely bruise too if you take a running leap and slide head first across the kitchen floor! All you gotta do is land on your chin.

Rylee's 4th birthday! What a joy and blessing she is in our lives.

We love her determination, her vivid imagination. Her taste for things that are sparkly, purple, and frilly is carefree and addictive. I need to get a suit that fits this description.

It was a treat to have Grandma Sharon, adopted grandma Pat and Rylee's birth mom, Dana join us and some good friends at 'Pop's Malt shop'.

Lauren the ladybug, and Rylee the moth. I was trying to figure out how to be a flyswatter.

How exactly do pumpkins fit into the whole "Halloween" historical picture? Better yet, why exactly do we even have Halloween? Best yet, why do people cut open giant squash and remove all the guts? Genius idea for a holiday.

A favorite from the Halloween buckets, watch out Edward!

Fun at Black Island Farm.

Rylee swept the whole hayride tractor with her 'Broom Corn' stalk.

An engineers mind at work. The girls spent many quarters filling the little food bucket to pulley it up to the greedy goats.

This family's got TALENT!

To add to Friday night's celebration, Lauren put on quite a show. She definitely took the cake!