Grampa Mark in Omaha!

Let's be honest, since my dad is a pilot, he has been EVERYWHERE! And of course he's been to Omaha SEVERAL times throughout his pilot career, so I was determined to show him a side of Omaha he hasn't seen before!
Grampa Mark arrived late Saturday night, so sunday morning was super exciting for the boys! It was like waking up for Christmas, they just love their Grampa Mark! After church we had the kids play outside in the water, which they LOVE! They were so fun to watch!

After a hard afternoon's play, I made us all a quick snack and sent the boys OFF to the College World Series Baseball Game! It's only been one of my Dad's dreams to go!

 He is a HUGE Baseball fan and even got a scholarship to BYU for Baseball! Other than flying airplanes, baseball is his favorite! And Darren was more than happy to accompany him at the game! Apparently they scored amazing seats! (knowing my dad, he wouldn't have gotten anything but the best! lol) My dad says next year he wants to go to EVERY game! We'll see what happens! All I know is, they had a BLAST!

 Monday we spent ALL day at the zoo! Which my boys think is their second home now! lol.

 After the zoo, Grampa treated us all to some ice cream at Culver's which is my new favorite ice cream joint around here! YUMMMMMM! Jaxton has the BEST ice-cream face! lol.

And for dinner that night I had planned our very own Father's Day Dinner with the theme "Super Dad!" Because our dad's are so amazing they can be called Superheroes!

 I had so much fun planning out the meal, decorating and shopping for it! =D
Just look at that delicious menu!!!!

 Kaiden liked the kazoos the most! I think he tried to use it asw a vaccuum to eat his food! lol

 After the wonderful Superhero dinner, I had secretly planned for a babysitter to watch our kids so I could take the Super Dad's to a movie! Can you guess which one!? The Avengers of course!!! It was great and the best part was that my dad stayed awake the WHOLE time! haha! What a fun night!

 Tuesday morning we got up early and walked down to the Botanical Gardens! We've only been once before and although we spent an hour there, we had maybe only seeen half! So this time we made a point to see what everyone around here talks about, the trains!!!!!!!!!

 All I can say is this train track is HUGE and has several different trains running all around! The kids loved it and it was so much fun to watch!!  Above is a replica of the Omaha skyline! I wasn't kidding when I said it was SMALL! lol There is the Woodmen Building, the Union Pacific Building and a bank building, the name of which I've forgotten already. =D

 CHOOOOOOO CHOOOOOOOOOO right above our heads!!!

 The whole track was made of wood! And all the buildings around it were also hand carved out of wood! So beautiful!

For lunch that day we went to the Amazing Piza Machine! Darren had still never been there so it was time! We all had a fun time! And the food isn't great but it's pretty decent for the type of place it is!

 I'm pretty sure we all had a great time, I mean we spent 3 and a half hours there that day! lol And Kaiden cried when we had to leave. He is our little adrenaline junkie!

 Grampa Mark and Kaiden raced Darren on the track! Kaiden really gets a kick out of this!

And EARLY wednesday my dad had to leave. It was so sad because Kaiden woke up looking for his Grampa and when he couldn't find him, he snuggled up to Darren and had a few tears roll down his sweet little cheeks! Poor kid REALLY gets attached to Grampa every time he comes! On a plus side, Grampa may be coming back in August to go to the Iowa State Fair with us!!!! YIPPEEEEEE!

Ashlea's Wedding, Our 4 Year Anniversary, Youth Conference and Pt 1 of Father's Day!

How about that title!!!?! Needless to say we've been pretty busy lately! Jaxton and I started off the month of June flying out to Salt Lake for my sister's wedding!

I wasn't sure how he would do on the plane, but he far and surpassed ANYTHING I could have hoped! He LOVED the plane! He would wave and throw smiles at anyone sitting around us. Then he would ask to be held, so my child was getting passed around the plane! lol. The flight home I was more nervous about because we were arriving home at 11 pm, but AGAIN he surpassed my expectations, by sleeping the WHOLE flight! What a champ!

Salt Lake was sooo much fun and was kinda a mini Michael Family Reunion! My grandparents rented out a mansion for everyone to stay at, but Jaxton and I stayed at Grammy Carries house!
 We all had so much fun catching up and being with family! I havnt seen most of these guys since last June!! There is just nothing like being around family! Ashlea's wedding was beautiful and I was so excited that I was able to make it and be there for her on her BIG day! I hope they have all the happiness they can ever imagine comes out of marriage, PLUS some! lol. =D

At the rehearsal luncheon! How cute! In less than 24 hrs they would be man and wife!

The glowing bride! Getting ready to walk down the isle in an hour!

The handsome groom hours before tieing the knot!

Just look at that beautifully fitted, Victorian style wedding dress! What a beautiful bride! I wonder whose silly baby that is with choclate all over his face! lol

Just 2 days after Jaxton and I got back from Salt Lake, Darren and I were signed up to be Youth Conference Parents for our stake! It was such a beautiful and spiritual experience! It's no secret I would love to one day be in Young Women's so I was beyond THRILLED to be out with the youth for the weekend! I don't think Darren and I could have ever imagined how attached we would get to our 5 "kids" in such a short time! The youth here are sooo amazing and are so spiritually strong, it is just amazing to have gotten to know these kids! Darren and I were pretty popular with a lot of kids that weren't even in our group so really it was no surprise to us that they asked us to be parents again next year for a Trek through Wyoming! Darren and I would love to go if things can work out again!!!

Youth Conference ended saturday afternoon, and saturday was acutally our 4 year anniversary!!! Wahooo!!!! I am seriously married to the hottest, smartest and all around the most WONDERFUL guy ever! Our personalities jsut compliment each other's soooo well! Of course I KNOW I'm the LUCKIEST girl in the world! And it's a plus we make adorable kids! We actullay celebrated our anniversary the night before we left for youth conference by going out to P.F. Changs! YUM! Also, Darren and I are planning a mini vacation/ get away next month! Darren has his 10 year high school reunion in Kansas City, so we are flying out, renting a car and staying in hotels! It's going to be soooo fun!!!! Hooray for a weekend ALL about US! =D


The reason we celebrated our anniversary early was because that sunday was Father's Day but because Darren's brother's family was in town we had to had the dinner a night before so they could get home. Dena made a wonderful dinner and it was an enjoyable evening for all of us!!! I had my own Fathers Day Dinner planned up my sleeve but I was going to wait a week because my Dad was coming into town the following week!!!! YAY! I'm devoting the whole next post to his visit! I am so lucky to have had such a great dad and such a great husband who is such a great dad to my very handsome boys!

Memorial Day & new Friends!

This Memorial Day was the BEST yet! There is NOTHING better than spending holidays with good friends and close family, and that's just what we did!!! We had a lunch BBQ with Darrens parents and played in the pool, played in the slip n slide and played on their new tire swing horse named Bullseye! I could kick myself for forgetting to grab the camera as we left our house, but the boys had sooooooo much fun! Kaiden is now a Grandma's Boy! In fact just last week Gpa & Gpa Romriell came over to our house for dinner and a movie and as they were leaving, Kaiden grabbed his Diego Backpack and followed them out of our house screaming "Don't Leave Me!" lol. He just loves them sooooo much! Of course this act melted their hearts and they asked if he could spend the night with them, and HE DID! And from what we were told he did really well! lol. He is such a big boy! I can't get over how much he has grown!
So later on Memorial Day we had a fun neighborhood BBQ for dinner! I say "neighborhood" but really it's all of us LDS families! Not that we single the other families out, it's just that we're usually the ones outside all day socializing with each other and thus all really good friends that organize things together like BBQs! I made some adorable mini Bundt Cakes and away we went! Thankfully my friend Dahlia grabbed some photos and posted them!

Have I mentioned how much I just LOVE the girls here!? Well they are ALWAYS up to something, wether going out somewhere together, hanging out around 1 of our many neighborhood parks or having a CRAFTING PARTY! Last week we had a crafting party and etched glass! It was sooooo great! You pretty much "frost" you name on to your glass pans. I didn't much care to do my pans since I deliver all my meals with a cute card and address info and *cross my fingers* I always get them back, BUT I did have in mind my Trifle Bowl! Only because I have it setting out on display in my kitchen and it needed some PIZAZZ!

And voila! I L-O-V-E it soooooooooooo much! It just turned out perfectly! I love the font and the side details and everything! Darren's words were "Oh thats gorgeous!" lol

We are LOVING Omaha! We're so excited to live here for the next 3 years!

Our New Home!

So we moved in 6 weeks ago, and time had FLOWN by! I've been meaning to publish this post for a LONG time, but we keep adding changes so I keep waiting to take pictures. We have done A LOT of work and are very happy/ proud of our home!!! And I know alot of you wanted to see some "before" photos but I was sooo busy I forgot most of the time. SORRY!

Front Yard

 I just LOVE this photo! It's bright and colorful and "welcoming!"  I even like the ivy creeping up the sides. Unfortunately soon after this photo, we chopped the ivy out!

 The oh so HAPPY family who lives here!

This flower bed was COVERED in weeds, and ivy! I had a BLAST picking out flowers and getting a little dirty! You can't tell but I choose pink and yellow flowers! I seriously LOVE it!

Back Yard

 Probably the ONLY time I remembered to take a "before" photo! It was WORSE on the other side of our stairs! I don't have a photo, so you're just gonna have to trust me! ;)

 AFTER! Looks so GREAT! Darren did a fantastic job! The right side (checkered) is for the boy's outdoor toys, power wheel, and other ride on toys!

The neighbor liked Darren's work so much that she paid him to do her side! Now it looks even better AND our neighbor is gone ALL the time so she said we could buy an outdoor table set and put it on her side! So we scored double patio space!!!

Living Room

Our luxurious living room! I won't lie, the hardwood floors aren't in the best of conditions, but the other day we bought some product to "renew" our floors and now they look AMAZING! Now to explain what we (Darren) did! We painted walls, ceiling, trim, replaced old outlets, added the lighting and added the lighting fixture above the window! We also added all new lighting fixtures in the entry way and 2 in the hallway upstairs!

 The paint I chose to use throughout the house is a cream color. Since we have a small townhome, we wanted a nice light, neutral color to make the rooms look bigger. And it worked! (At least our neighbor has told us that we made it look a ton bigger than the last owner!)

These stairs were COVERED in wallpaper! Yuck! And not cute wallpaper like I've seen on pinterest but wallpaper I'd imagine a 70 year old psychiatrist would have in his office! We scraped it all of and painted the stairs white!

The Boys Playroom

 What we did: Painted! The basement was entirely painted the dark brown color, which we thought was too dark for a basement, even though we really liked the color. So we painted most of the walls cream and left a few brown accent walls! We painted the door white, it was a natural wood color. We replaced all the outlets with kid proof ones! There was an outlet way below the t.v., but Darren moved it all the way up so he could hide it behind the t.v. He also designed the t.v. wires to go through the wall so the kids couldn't play in them! It's a 100% Kid Friendly Room!

 I love how big and open it is for the boys to play...... or make a GIANT mess of! lol On the other side of the door is the "unfinished" side of the basement. I saved your eyes from the messiness of it all! It's mostly storage, my craft room and the laundry room!

 I still havent hung any pictures on the wall, but it's coming soon! We found a great deal on this "click clack" couch via my fave store, Target!

I really wanted BRIGHT colors in this basement, even though there is lots of natural light coming through that small window! Ic an't wait to finally get things hung on the walls!

Kaiden's Room

Kaiden's room will be redecorated in a Monster Theme soon! So his walls and everything are pretty bare, but I wanted you to get the idea! I didn't get a picture of Jaxton's room, but it's a little smaller and Dalmatian themed right now, but I may turn it into a Fireman theme soon! That way I can still use the Dalmatian bedding I made!
What we did to both boy's rooms: Painted the ceiling, walls, trim, door, closets and closet door.

Bathroom

We only have 1 bathroom in our whole 3 bedrrom house! It actually hasn't been a problem, but then again we haven't had any overnight visitors yet either! We are considering installing a half bath on the unfinished side of the basement. It would be amazing but isn't a top priority right now.

We will be tiling the floor probably sometime this week!! What we did: Painted ceiling, walls, trim and door. Replaced the moulding around the mirror.

Our Room

I just LOVE my Tiffany Blue wall! It's so fun and bright! We only did the 1 accent wall.

What we did: Painted the walls, ceiling, trim, door, closet door and accent wall.

A PERFECT match!!!

The Kitchen

I purposely saved the kitchen for last! I'm so in love with it! Yesterday Darren tiled my kitchen flooe and it has completley changed it! I'll show you a few pictures of the old floor and then the new flooring!

Notice the old white tile you remember seeing in your school as a kid! Oh yes, this is the original 1970 flooring! And if you couldn't guess, white is incredibly HARD to keep clean. 

 Ta Da!!! Our new flooring! Doesn't it make a HUGE difference!? It's soooo beautiful!

This kitchen ahd been remodeled by the previous owner 2 years ago. And she installed the island!! What we did: Painted ceiling, walls, trim, shelves, cupboards, pantry, island (was bright red and we painted it cream. I'm thinking I'd prefer it the brown color so I'll probably paint it soon!) and shelves (you'll see them in a pic in a minute!) Darren added oak trim above the cabinets and along the pantry. (Previously there were just BIG gaps between the wall and cupboards.) The only other project Darren has left is to install a new light fixture!

And now for a brief "before and after" picture montage!!!

Didn't the floors just change it so much!? I just LOOOOOOOVE IT!

A fun project idea I got from pinterest! It's my kitchen command center! It inclides my menu board, key holders, a white board for notes and a mail holder! Now, maybe my island won't get so junked up all the time!

 I have the damask pattern throughout my kitchen and even on my plates so I wanted to incorporate it a little more. So I bought some fabric ($3) and hot glued it around a piece of cardboard that fit snuggly in the cubby! So easy, so cheap and sooooo fun! My mother in law surprised me with the vinyl decal above. You can't really see it from the glare but it says "Chelsea's Cupcake Cafe"! How awesome is that!?

 These shelves were originally red and I wanted them to be put in the basement for movies, but Darren talked me out of it and I'm soooo glad he did! I just love these shelves now! The glass jars hold my flour and sugar and have pink vinyl decals that label them! (My favorite part has to be the spirnkles stored in the small glass jars!!!! Too cute!)

 Our unit is at an AWESOME location! We have a nice BIG tree in our front yard that gives shade to our cars, our front yard and our home. I imagine our home is easier to keep cool than others because of our beloved tree! Also in the back we a forest! Of course it's gated so the kids can't go out there but it's so nice to have the privacy. The way most of these townhomes are laid out, people can just see into each others homes! We got lucky!!!

Another fun feature in my kitchen is the pull out drawers!!! Jaxton loves them too! And when he's not in THIS drawer, he's in the drawer under my stove! lol
Whew! We did some MAJOR work! But it was ALLworth it. For some reason on paper it doesn't sound like we did much but trust me, we DID! Okay, Darren did most of it while I played with the kids at the zoo! lol. I just love having a handy man for a husband!!!
Our home is soooo beautiful!!! I feel truly blessed to live here! I'm also having a great time meeting all the neighbors! Our townhome community is 75% LDS families! It's also divided into 3 different wards, so I still have PLANTY of people to meet! Kaiden especially loves our new home because of the playroom downstairs and the fact that I play with him outside for the majority of the day!
Well, now that you've had the tour, ya'll need to come out and visit us!!!!!!!!
See ya soon!!!