Matt & Baby Aubrey
All of the cousins playing together and enjoying Aubrey's baby toys! From left to right: Zachary, Aubrey, Olivia, KJ. In back: Amanda.

Matt's Aunt Judy lighting the candles on the cake with a giant match!

Since we were all together, we decided to celebrate the December birthdays! Matt (Dec. 5th), Grandma Bernice (Dec. 10th), and Tracy (Dec. 17).

We also had a pinata for the kids! Matt and Aunt Janine held the rope to make it move. Here's KJ breaking it open.

The Basement is Painted!

Here's the living room! The color is a blueish-gray called "Silent Tide". Matt thinks it's too dark, but I love it! Eventually we will have beige carpet that will lighten it up.
We painted the stairway the same color. It was very difficult because it had high ceilings and nowhere to put the ladder. Matt had to set the tall ladder on the stairs and lean it up against this wall straight ahead in the picture.

Here I am dusting before painting. We used the short ladder on the landing. Matt almost fell down the stairs while using the short ladder because it bent under him, but luckily I was there to catch him!

The Whole Family on My Mom's Side

Kenny's funeral brought almost everyone from the extended family together again, even Denny & Becky from North Carolina and Gregg & Terri from Texas. It was so nice to see everyone again!

Top row: My husband Matt, Eric(Kacie's husband), Damon(son of Josh), Denny(uncle), Josh(cousin), Craig(husband of Karie), Nick(cousin), Terri(wife of Gregg)

Middle row: Me, Kacie(sister), Cindy(mom), Becky(my aunt/Denny's wife), Heather(wife of Josh), Mark(son of Leone), Karie(cousin), Jenny(fiance of Nick), Gregg(uncle)

Bottom row: Amy(sister), Trevor(Amy's son), Laurie (friend of mom's), Makayla(daughter of Josh), Lane(son of Josh), Leone(great aunt/sister of my Grandma), Pat(daughter of Leone), Terese(daughter of Karie), Kevin(daughter of Karie)

Sitting in front: Deb & Beth (Aunt and cousin)

Uncle Kenny

On Wednesday, November 19, my Uncle Kenny suddenly and unexpectedly passed away from a blood clot in his heart. He was a great Man of Faith, with a loving personality and amazing sense of humor. He will be greatly missed. The funeral was held in Iowa on Saturday, and he was laid to rest in Chaska, Minnesota on Tuesday. This is just a small dedication to his memory.

Wife Deb, daughter Beth & Kenny
Wife Deb, Daughter Beth & Kenny

Daddy's girl & Kenny

Enjoying a nice summer day.

Just keeping warm.

Me and my Uncle Kenny playing puppets.

Kenny, Deb, my sisters Kacie and Amy (left to right), and baby Beth on Deb's lap.

Kenny and his wife, Deb.

What a handsome guy!

Kenny & my dad (they are together again!)
Kenny trying to sit on my dad (what a goof)!

One of the greatest things about my uncle was his sense of humor! He worked on furnaces for a living, so pictured here he is "Furnace Man"! We will all miss his wonderful humor, but we still laugh at the many jokes he told us and stories we have about him.

Bathroom Tile!

Matt cutting tile with his new wet-saw. I was very nervous that he would chop off his finger.
Finished!

Before


After

Girls Night!

A fun-filled night at Kacie's house just hanging out with the girls! Margaritas, mexican casserole, chips & salsa, fried ice cream, girl talk and laughter! What more could a girl want? (Pictured from left to right: Julie, Nicole, Amy, Lindsay, Kacie, Lindsey, Carrie, Bridget, Lena, and Mary - not pictured: Sara)

Painting!

We've started painting! Now it really looks like a real basement! We finished painting the bathroom and did the first coat in the bedroom. The bedroom was extremely difficult to paint, because the type of paint was an accent base with a ton of pigment and it made it dry super quick! Matt had to paint at the speed of lightning to keep up with it. Tonight we will do the second coat in the bedroom and start painting the living room next week. On Saturday Matt and I will start installing the tile in the bathroom! We are so excited, it's almost finished!

Basement Priming

Me priming the walls
Matt priming

Before

After priming

We're finished priming! Our mudding and taping was finished on Wednesday. Matt's dad came over on Saturday and helped Matt prime the ceilings. Then Matt and I finished priming the walls by ourselves. Next weekend we hope to paint the ceiling and bathroom! We have the tile all picked out and purchased for the bathroom! We're getting so close to the final stages! I can't wait to see the final product!

Halloween

My Uncle Kenny, Aunt Deb & Cousin Beth
Eric (I don't know what he's trying to do)

My sister Kacie, Nykolus & Eric (A Happy Family)

Me and my mom, Cindy

Trevor & his daddy......All of my family came over for a Halloween bonfire. My uncle and aunt just moved to Waconia from Iowa, and we're so happy to have family close! We ate Beefy Cornbread Casserole, S'mores, pumpkin seeds, and sat around our bonfire drinking hot chocolate!

Halloween

Matt & I under my Halloween decorations
My sister's dog, Nykolus

My mom's dog (my old dog) Pooky

Pumpkin Mouse Village

Pumpkin Mouse Village in the Dark

Aubrey

Sara & Aubrey chewing on Gumbi (8 months old)
July 4th (5 months old)

Touch your toes!

What a pretty girl!

Aubrey sitting on the blanket that momma made! She was 7 months old in these pictures. Now she is 9 months old and has started crawling! She was born January 23rd, 2008. Aubrey is my niece, and Matt and I are her Godparents! She loves to eat banana flavored star puffs, but don't you dare try and give her a cherry flavored one! She will make the nastiest face in the whole world! She is so adorable and we love her so much!

Getting ready for Halloween!

My nephew, Trevor, came to visit me, and we decided to try on some Halloween props to get ready for Trick-or-Treating. I think the Harry Potter glasses are especially fitting for him!

Completed Drywall and Cleaned Up!

Looking down the stairs - we hung the drywall on the bottom half. It was very tricky getting it cut just right, but it looks great!
The cleaned-up living room (looking North).
The Living Room (looking South).
The Guest Bedroom and large closet............Matt and I finished hanging up the few small sections of drywall on Friday and Saturday. Then we cleaned it all up, getting rid of the extra drywall, insulation and pieces of wood; followed by sweeping up 10 lbs of drywall dust: This week we are getting some estimates for mudding and taping because we're hiring out for that. Hopefully it will be mudded and taped the week of the 13th. After that we just need to paint and tile in the bathroom so we can move in the vanity and hook up it's lights. Then we can get our final electrical inspection done! This is so much fun!