Roots Redux
8 years ago
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
House Update
Our house from a distance
Yea we have a Window in our Bathroom!
Our house now has Shingles on its roof and the plumbing and electrical are now done. The windows are in too. It is all so exciting.
Christmas Joy
Joshie got a great new shiny red tricycle from grandma and Grandpa Mickelsen, his reaction is typical Joshie.
Joshie got a Train Set from Santa Clause, He was really excited, he played with it all day long.
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Sunday, December 14, 2008
House Update
They have finally gotten started on our house! The first floor is basically framed! Yea!
Friday, December 12, 2008
Our New Fridge!
Last night I found quite possibly the best deal ever. I have been wanting a french door fridge for our new house ever since I saw the first one. But they are way way too expensive. They start at like $1500 for the smallest white one. Well, last night I went to our Sears Outlet store because we had received an ad in the mail that looked like they had some good sales going on. It must have been a pretty good sale because they barely had anything left. As i was just about to leave the store I saw one on the opposite side of the store all by itself that caught my eye. It was a kitchen aid brand, with ice maker and internal purified water dispenser (very cool!) for........$809.99!!!!! It retails for $3199 normally. Needless to say, I bought it and am a very happy camper with my deal finding skills.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
My Dilemma
Two years ago I bought these beautiful stockings at Target. They have had them every year for a while so I figured I was safe in making these our family stockings and being able to add more as needed. Well, of course, this year they are no where to be found. And as you can see, I need one for Avalinea. Her cheepo stocking looks pretty pathetic next to the rest. WHY I didn't buy one last year when I was pregnant with Avey is a mystery. I have no idea what I was thinking.
If anyone sees a stocking similar to these PLEASE let me know asap.
Monday, November 24, 2008
Friday, November 21, 2008
And then there was......... cement!
Our basement is poured!! Our lot was excavated, primed, and foundation poured all in 4 days! (amazing how quickly they can move when they want to!)
Our new target close date is early to mid February.
Our new target close date is early to mid February.
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Sad, Sad Day
So the day has finally come.......I got my first cavity. I've been avoiding going to the dentist ever since my pregnancy because I literally couldn't put my tooth brush in my mouth for oh.....5 months. Seriously, not joking. Add to that throwing up 6 to 7 times per day and your left with a pretty gross dental situation.
Having proudly worn the badge of "Never had a single cavity!" for the last 24 years, I must now take it off. The dentist says I should feel lucky I only have one given my oral hygiene, or lack there of, during pregnancy. He said most women who report having thrown up a ton in pregnancy will show up with 10+ cavities on their next visit. (the bile in your stomach breaks down the enamel of your teeth, leading to easier cavities) But I still don't feel so lucky, and I'm not ready to give up my "never had a cavity" badge. What a sad, sad day.
Having proudly worn the badge of "Never had a single cavity!" for the last 24 years, I must now take it off. The dentist says I should feel lucky I only have one given my oral hygiene, or lack there of, during pregnancy. He said most women who report having thrown up a ton in pregnancy will show up with 10+ cavities on their next visit. (the bile in your stomach breaks down the enamel of your teeth, leading to easier cavities) But I still don't feel so lucky, and I'm not ready to give up my "never had a cavity" badge. What a sad, sad day.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Update on our house
Well after many many frustrating months of run around, Chelsea decided that enough was enough with our builder. (writing in third person)
Being her mother's daughter, she sent a strong but courteous letter to the owners of the building company, describing to them the bad business practices that had been going on in their company. This letter was sent at approximately midnight on Thursday evening via email. Lo and behold, Friday morning at 9 am she received a phone call from none other than the owner himself. He extended his great apologies for the lack luster customer service they had received and requested a meeting that would include the two owners of the company, the foreman of construction, and ourselves.
Ok enough of this third person writing. Let me tell you, did we ever pick the problem child lot!!! When we signed our contract we found out that we were going to be house number 13. How lucky for us. At this meeting, we found out that many unforeseen problems arose with our lot. First being that when they began to excavate our basement they could not find the sewer lines. Apparently these are pretty important things! ;) So they had to contact the land developer to come out and locate the lines and also visit city hall to go through video footage of the creation of those lines( or something like that, I don't speak construction) Finally, said lines were found!! Then came the second large problem. In the middle of where our driveway needs to be are two city utility boxes. As you can imagine, you can't exactly just pour cement over city utility boxes. Nor can you have said boxes in the middle of your driveway. So back to the city the builder went. The city has finally decided to move said boxes to another location. This, we found out, is the reason we have had over a month of delays so far. Let's hope we've had enough problems from our lucky number 13 home.
Back to the meeting.... after hearing our concerns about the lack of service we had received in regards to unanswered questions we had and that we had been denied modifications we wanted to make to our home; they created a few special modifications for us for free!
1- we are taking out the door between the master bedroom and master bathroom and instead creating a large roman archway
2- We are closing off the door between the master bath and the walk in closet and just putting a door in the bedroom that leads into the walk in closet. (no more having to walk through the bathroom to get to the closet)
3- we are adding a window, 4ft by 3ft above my soaker tub for natural light in the master bath.
Moral of the story: stand your ground on demanding good customer service! I am proud to be my mothers daughter and that she taught me how to strongly but courteously stand up for myself and others. Thanks mom!
Being her mother's daughter, she sent a strong but courteous letter to the owners of the building company, describing to them the bad business practices that had been going on in their company. This letter was sent at approximately midnight on Thursday evening via email. Lo and behold, Friday morning at 9 am she received a phone call from none other than the owner himself. He extended his great apologies for the lack luster customer service they had received and requested a meeting that would include the two owners of the company, the foreman of construction, and ourselves.
Ok enough of this third person writing. Let me tell you, did we ever pick the problem child lot!!! When we signed our contract we found out that we were going to be house number 13. How lucky for us. At this meeting, we found out that many unforeseen problems arose with our lot. First being that when they began to excavate our basement they could not find the sewer lines. Apparently these are pretty important things! ;) So they had to contact the land developer to come out and locate the lines and also visit city hall to go through video footage of the creation of those lines( or something like that, I don't speak construction) Finally, said lines were found!! Then came the second large problem. In the middle of where our driveway needs to be are two city utility boxes. As you can imagine, you can't exactly just pour cement over city utility boxes. Nor can you have said boxes in the middle of your driveway. So back to the city the builder went. The city has finally decided to move said boxes to another location. This, we found out, is the reason we have had over a month of delays so far. Let's hope we've had enough problems from our lucky number 13 home.
Back to the meeting.... after hearing our concerns about the lack of service we had received in regards to unanswered questions we had and that we had been denied modifications we wanted to make to our home; they created a few special modifications for us for free!
1- we are taking out the door between the master bedroom and master bathroom and instead creating a large roman archway
2- We are closing off the door between the master bath and the walk in closet and just putting a door in the bedroom that leads into the walk in closet. (no more having to walk through the bathroom to get to the closet)
3- we are adding a window, 4ft by 3ft above my soaker tub for natural light in the master bath.
Moral of the story: stand your ground on demanding good customer service! I am proud to be my mothers daughter and that she taught me how to strongly but courteously stand up for myself and others. Thanks mom!
Monday, November 17, 2008
Halloween Babies!!
Joshie (above) was 1 day shy of 5 months in this picture(2005). Avalinea is 10 months (2008).
I think we have a tad bit difference in weight, no? :) Joshie weighed 16 lbs 14.5 oz and was 26 inches tall (at 4 months) Avalinea on the other hand, weighed 17 lbs and was 29 inches tall at 9 months. I love that they could wear the exact same 1st halloween outfit despite their difference in age!!
Thursday, November 13, 2008
That's right....my company is cooler than yours!
For anyone interested, the company I work for was in Time magazine today. Here's the link, it's a really great article!
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1858876,00.html
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1858876,00.html
Wednesday, November 5, 2008
Frustrated. *Vent*
Over the last 48 hours I have been hearing and reading a lot of comments saying that "those who voted for Obama were probably young, uneducated (collegiately anyway) 18 year olds who were doing it to be trendy and cool" . Just let that sink in for a moment.... By implication then, those who voted for McCain are older, educated persons not swayed by popular trends.
As a "educated" person this upsets me greatly. I take my voting responsibility very seriously. Prior to the election I spent several weeks reading and researching BOTH candidates platforms. Browsing both candidates websites as well as third party websites like CNN and other news. I watched all 3 Presidential debates as well as the Vice Presidential debate. I consider myself and informed voter. I am strongly against voting party line. I hate that button on the ballot which gives us the option to vote all democrat or all republican. Not all democrats are wild liberals who want to abort babies and take aways guns. Not all Republicans are Bible preaching, pro death penalty right wingers. We should be voting for a person, not a party. Voting for a party is the lazy way of doing things in my opinion. In fact, I'd be all for abolishing parties all together. I believe we need to have a balance across the spectrum of beliefs, platforms, and ideas and in order for our nation to run smoothly. Voting party line often involves a lot of assumptions, which is another thing that really irritates me.
Assumptions. Just because I'm LDS does NOT mean I'm a republican. And following the same argument, even if I was a republican, it doesn't mean I am because my parents were, or I am because everyone else in Utah is. Whatever I am, I am because I read. Because I research. Because I am involved. Because I can think for myself. Too often Republicans in Utah are stereotyped as just following the crowd and incapable of thinking for themselves. We need to fight against assumptions. I have often been asked the question, how I can be a good, God fearing, LDS woman and be a "liberal"- like the word is eternal damnation or something. I find this question so ignorant I'm not even going to take the time to give it a response.
Now that the election is over, we need to move past all the back biting and name calling. We need to be United. I would say this no matter the outcome of the election. Whoever you voted for, if you did your research and truly believed in your candidate; I respect you and your vote. We shouldn't spend our time categorizing each other as if one group of voters is more important than another. We all need to support our new President, regardless of how we voted. Because if we don't, we've failed before we've even begun. Divided we fail.
I'd like to propose a new rule for the next presidential campaign. I'd love to take credit for this idea, but in truth, my sister Alayna is the one that came up with it.
"In any debate, commercial, rallies, anything....you can only talk about YOURSELF and what YOU will do. You are NOT allowed to bring up the other person at all."
With this rule in place there would be no nasty name calling, no lies spread, and no negative ads. Political Utopia. It will never happen, but its nice to contemplate.
As a "educated" person this upsets me greatly. I take my voting responsibility very seriously. Prior to the election I spent several weeks reading and researching BOTH candidates platforms. Browsing both candidates websites as well as third party websites like CNN and other news. I watched all 3 Presidential debates as well as the Vice Presidential debate. I consider myself and informed voter. I am strongly against voting party line. I hate that button on the ballot which gives us the option to vote all democrat or all republican. Not all democrats are wild liberals who want to abort babies and take aways guns. Not all Republicans are Bible preaching, pro death penalty right wingers. We should be voting for a person, not a party. Voting for a party is the lazy way of doing things in my opinion. In fact, I'd be all for abolishing parties all together. I believe we need to have a balance across the spectrum of beliefs, platforms, and ideas and in order for our nation to run smoothly. Voting party line often involves a lot of assumptions, which is another thing that really irritates me.
Assumptions. Just because I'm LDS does NOT mean I'm a republican. And following the same argument, even if I was a republican, it doesn't mean I am because my parents were, or I am because everyone else in Utah is. Whatever I am, I am because I read. Because I research. Because I am involved. Because I can think for myself. Too often Republicans in Utah are stereotyped as just following the crowd and incapable of thinking for themselves. We need to fight against assumptions. I have often been asked the question, how I can be a good, God fearing, LDS woman and be a "liberal"- like the word is eternal damnation or something. I find this question so ignorant I'm not even going to take the time to give it a response.
Now that the election is over, we need to move past all the back biting and name calling. We need to be United. I would say this no matter the outcome of the election. Whoever you voted for, if you did your research and truly believed in your candidate; I respect you and your vote. We shouldn't spend our time categorizing each other as if one group of voters is more important than another. We all need to support our new President, regardless of how we voted. Because if we don't, we've failed before we've even begun. Divided we fail.
I'd like to propose a new rule for the next presidential campaign. I'd love to take credit for this idea, but in truth, my sister Alayna is the one that came up with it.
"In any debate, commercial, rallies, anything....you can only talk about YOURSELF and what YOU will do. You are NOT allowed to bring up the other person at all."
With this rule in place there would be no nasty name calling, no lies spread, and no negative ads. Political Utopia. It will never happen, but its nice to contemplate.
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
8 Things
A coworker and good friend of mine tagged me this week and this one seemed like lots of fun, so here we go!
8 Favorite TV shows:
1. Prison Break
2. Desperate Housewives
3. Army Wives
4. Gray's Anatomy
5. Biggest Loser- my inspiration (I'd love to be on a biggest loser "normal just overweight folks!)
6. Extreme home makeover
7. Law and Order SVU
8. Criminal Minds
8 Favorite Resturuants:
1. Ruby River Steakhouse
2. Zupas
3. Cafe Rio
4. Iggy's
5. Round Table Pizza
6. Olive Garden
7. Friday's
8. The Roof (only been there once but it was amazing)
8 Things that Happened Yesterday:
1. I worked from home
2. Felt good about my job
3. Hated my job for a few moments
4. Watched my favorite shows
5. Read random people's blogs
6. Stayed up TOO late
7. VOTED! (okay that was today but I couldn't think of anything else)
8. Drove by our "pretty dirt lot" (again, today)
8 Things That I look Forward To:
1. My house being built
2. Moving into and decorating my very first house!
3. Taking Joshie trick or treating this Friday
4. Being debt free
5. Going to nursing school
6. Going to a graduate FNP program after nursing school
7. Vacation in Walt Disney World in November 2010
8. Some "Me" time
8 Things I love About Fall
1. Sweater weather!
2. Eating soup
3. Getting ready for the holidays
4. Vacations
5. Cheap utilities (no air conditioning and not much heating)
6. Countdown to Christmas
7. The beautiful colors
8. playing outside
8 Things on my wish list
1. To be a size 8 (only 2 sizes to go, i can do it!)
2. Someone to do my dishes all the time (but exactly the way i like it)
3. To have a large house with backyard and play set for the kids
4. A Kenmore Pro Series Kitchen
5. A date night with my husband every week
6. More time with my children
7. To not have to work full time
8. To never be sick again (my children as well)
I tag: Taylor K, Kalynne J, Jacob B
8 Favorite TV shows:
1. Prison Break
2. Desperate Housewives
3. Army Wives
4. Gray's Anatomy
5. Biggest Loser- my inspiration (I'd love to be on a biggest loser "normal just overweight folks!)
6. Extreme home makeover
7. Law and Order SVU
8. Criminal Minds
8 Favorite Resturuants:
1. Ruby River Steakhouse
2. Zupas
3. Cafe Rio
4. Iggy's
5. Round Table Pizza
6. Olive Garden
7. Friday's
8. The Roof (only been there once but it was amazing)
8 Things that Happened Yesterday:
1. I worked from home
2. Felt good about my job
3. Hated my job for a few moments
4. Watched my favorite shows
5. Read random people's blogs
6. Stayed up TOO late
7. VOTED! (okay that was today but I couldn't think of anything else)
8. Drove by our "pretty dirt lot" (again, today)
8 Things That I look Forward To:
1. My house being built
2. Moving into and decorating my very first house!
3. Taking Joshie trick or treating this Friday
4. Being debt free
5. Going to nursing school
6. Going to a graduate FNP program after nursing school
7. Vacation in Walt Disney World in November 2010
8. Some "Me" time
8 Things I love About Fall
1. Sweater weather!
2. Eating soup
3. Getting ready for the holidays
4. Vacations
5. Cheap utilities (no air conditioning and not much heating)
6. Countdown to Christmas
7. The beautiful colors
8. playing outside
8 Things on my wish list
1. To be a size 8 (only 2 sizes to go, i can do it!)
2. Someone to do my dishes all the time (but exactly the way i like it)
3. To have a large house with backyard and play set for the kids
4. A Kenmore Pro Series Kitchen
5. A date night with my husband every week
6. More time with my children
7. To not have to work full time
8. To never be sick again (my children as well)
I tag: Taylor K, Kalynne J, Jacob B
Friday, October 17, 2008
Monday, October 13, 2008
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Sarah Palin Video
A good friend of mine from UCSD recently traveled to Wasilla Alaska to help create a documentary of sorts about the life of Sarah Palin. Here is a clip; its pretty interesting. I have friends with great talents!
http://wasillaproject.typepad.com/
http://wasillaproject.typepad.com/
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
The seasons are changing...
........and so are we!!!! Here are some
pictures from our fun sick free weekend!
Avalinea is growing up so fast!
She will be 9 months old this week!
Joshie would rather take pictures than be in them,
but I got a smile out of him a time or two this
weekend for the camera
He was enthralled with Uncle Ron's Bow and arrow....
....and Mom's Cheshire cat visor
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Our House! (sort of) ;-)
So below are some pictures of our up and coming house! We got to go to the design center today which was so much fun! It was like being on a shopping spree (within our small budget of course). Here are some pics of the stuff we chose!
Here is our carpet, paint color for the walls and
our wood flooring for the dining room, kitchen,
and half bath down stairs.
This is our Vinyl flooring for the bathrooms, and
laundry room. The countertop for the bathrooms
and Kitchen is on the top and the cabinet sample for
the whole house is on the right.
This is our master bathroom layout. Our walk
in closet is behind Josh. it is the size of a small
nursery!
Other side of master bath. We do not have the
window above the bath in our home.
Kitchen cabinets
Layout of our kitchen- I am really excited about
have the bar to eat at. (the post wont be there
it is just holding up the counter while the glue dries)
This is actually our same model, though we have a smaller porch. These are also the colors we chose.
I hope you all will come and visit when we finish at the end of February!!!
Here is our carpet, paint color for the walls and
our wood flooring for the dining room, kitchen,
and half bath down stairs.
This is our Vinyl flooring for the bathrooms, and
laundry room. The countertop for the bathrooms
and Kitchen is on the top and the cabinet sample for
the whole house is on the right.
This is our master bathroom layout. Our walk
in closet is behind Josh. it is the size of a small
nursery!
Other side of master bath. We do not have the
window above the bath in our home.
Kitchen cabinets
Layout of our kitchen- I am really excited about
have the bar to eat at. (the post wont be there
it is just holding up the counter while the glue dries)
This is actually our same model, though we have a smaller porch. These are also the colors we chose.
I hope you all will come and visit when we finish at the end of February!!!
Friday, August 29, 2008
Shameless Plug
If you want to see greats thing happen in the next 4 years; then you all know what you need to do in a short two months time.....
Obama for President!!!!!
Obama for President!!!!!
Thursday, August 21, 2008
House and Joshie updates
Well yesterday we took the plunge into home ownership! We bought the house! Although, it is NOT the one on our previous blog, we decided to go with one floor plan up, so it is actually a little bigger :) You can go to this website to see the floor plan: http://www.bigghomes.com/concord.php
On a not so great note, Joshie had more tests at the hospital yesterday that revealed that he has Vesicoureteral Reflux. Basically meaning that his urine is being pushed back into his kidneys instead of leaving his body. This is why he had the massive kidney infection recently. Over time, it can cause kidney scarring, and with enough scarring can cause kidney failure. We are waiting on the doctors phone call to tell us where we go from here. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
On a not so great note, Joshie had more tests at the hospital yesterday that revealed that he has Vesicoureteral Reflux. Basically meaning that his urine is being pushed back into his kidneys instead of leaving his body. This is why he had the massive kidney infection recently. Over time, it can cause kidney scarring, and with enough scarring can cause kidney failure. We are waiting on the doctors phone call to tell us where we go from here. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Recent Kid pics
Both kids are doing well- Joshie is finally recovering from his bout of hospital visits and illnesses, we have some diagnostic testing this week to complete but hopefully after that we will have some answers on why he has had his most recent problems.
Avalinea is 7 months old already! And just recently learned how to sit up! She is also babbleing Da-da-da all the time. Why do babies always say that first?!? She is a very happy baby, except at around 9 pm every night when she is ready for bed. I can't believe she is 7 months already, why can't pregnancy go this fast?
Avalinea is 7 months old already! And just recently learned how to sit up! She is also babbleing Da-da-da all the time. Why do babies always say that first?!? She is a very happy baby, except at around 9 pm every night when she is ready for bed. I can't believe she is 7 months already, why can't pregnancy go this fast?
Friday, May 23, 2008
My babies (well one is not such a baby anymore)
I'm so grateful for my beautiful babies! They bring joy to my life everyday and even though being a mother is the hardest thing I have ever done, it the most rewarding as well. I love seeing Joshie learn new things everyday and become more of a little boy. (with quite the attitude at times! - he must get that from his dad ;) ) And Avalinea is just such a happy baby, she is all smiles for us and loves to play. We have been greatly blessed to have such even tempered and loving children!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Graduation and Baby Blessing, a full weekend indeed!
Joshie, Avalinea, and Mommy are very proud of Daddy for finishing his degree in Linguistics! Hoorah for graduation day!!
Avalinea Rose Barnett was blessed on Sunday April 27th in the Pleasant Grove 12th Ward. Her Aunts Katelyn and Alayna, Uncles Ron Jr. and Zach, Grandmas Rebecca and Stacey, Grandpas Mark Jennings and Ron Sr., and Mom, Dad, and Brother Joshie were all in attendance.
Avalinea Rose Barnett was blessed on Sunday April 27th in the Pleasant Grove 12th Ward. Her Aunts Katelyn and Alayna, Uncles Ron Jr. and Zach, Grandmas Rebecca and Stacey, Grandpas Mark Jennings and Ron Sr., and Mom, Dad, and Brother Joshie were all in attendance.
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