Sept & Oct Fun

We have been busy lately but we have been doing some fun stuff I wanted to post about.

In Sept & Oct we :

Went to the beach with my family! 

I got new workout shoes:)

Tate is getting so big

I got a massage table and Tate is testing it out.

 Tate LOVES the water:)

Made some yummy food.

More yummy food

Got to see the Newport temple b/c we had two nephews get baptized and a niece got blessed in the church building next door:)

Tates b-day getting frozen yogurt with his cousins. 

I got to attend General Conference (Saturday Morning Session) with Sophi and Stacy. 

Getting Tate ready for HAlloween 

Tate carries his blanket EVERYWHERE (just like his mommy when she was little) 

Tate getting fun toys for his b-day

My stud muffin

Driving with dad

Beach camping 

At the pumpkin patch checking out the animals and Tate didnt really care for the animals.

Running away from the goats.

Strong little man. 

Having fun at the pumpkin patch. 

El Capitan

So last week we went camping at El Capitan Beach in Santa Barbra. It was such a great week. The weather was great and the sun was always shine at the beach. I even went in and boggie boarded:) Tate was dirty most of the time from the dirt at our camp site but I got over it after the first 30 mins of being their. Tate loves the beach and just rommed around and enjoyed all the other kids to watch. He loves the water and loved playing in the water whole the kids made. Best time of year to go beach camping for sure. We had the beach to ourselves and the campgrounds too. Hate over crowded bathroom at campground so it was nice. So here are some pictures.

Tate Turned ONE!

So Tate turned ONE at the beginning of the month. Its been a little bit of a crazy month but I need to blog about my baby boy growing up. Its been too long since I have blogged. So we didn't really have an official b-day party for him but I felt like we celebrated enough. We did a one year photo shoot for him where I made him an oversized cupcake and he got to eat it. He got frozen yogurt the day of his b-day, and we went to Wokcano's to celebrate all the Oct b-day in the family and we sang to them.

So some of the things Tate likes to do these days: walk around and explore everything, eat lots of food all the time, take two good naps a day, loves to play with any type of water, try to talk all day long, gets into everything and makes a big mess, loves to be outside and play with rocks, and he loves to watch Baby Einstein still.

So I will have to say I am loving this stage so much more than the infant/new born stage. He just wasn't a happy infant and now he is. Now he does everything I expected him to do like laugh, smile, play on his own, sleep through the night, cry it out sometimes for naps, chill in his carseat, enjoy walks, and play with others. He didn't do like any of these things as an infant. So glad to be his mom and that I get to watch him grow each day. I love that I know him best and I can always tell what he needs (most of the time). It is very fulfilling. Happy B-day TATE! Hope you have a great healthy year. 

Almost 10 Months

Oh its been way to long since i have updated about my little baby, Tate! So here is a blog post about him.
     Tate is almost 10 months old and he is getting to be so much fun! So glad he is much happier now and loves to eat food. I am not going to lie but Tate was a very hard newborn and life was pretty hard but now that he is older and not teething as much he is a good baby. Tate like to be around other people and babies. The Summer time is so much fun b/c everyone is out of school and we get to play all day long. Tate and I normally go and hang out with his cousins (my sister in laws & their kids).

     Things Tate likes: EATING (thats number one) swimming, playing with his dad and cousins, the beach, going on walks or runs, listening to music with mommy, playing with G'ma & G'pa, crawling on everything, diving head first off the bed, walking with his little walker, sucking on his pacifier, crawling up stairs, bath time, the vacuum, exploring, nursing, attention, and love any kind of ball.

    Things Tate doesn't like: getting dressed, having to sit on our laps, getting his diaper changed, scary looking people, pocky grass, having his hands held down (haha he hates that), taking a nap anywhere else but his carseat or crib, sleeping through the night without comfort feeding, and his jumper.

    Tate knows what he wants and tries very hard to get it. I know we are in for a fun ride with him but he is pretty darn funny and makes my heart full. He is growing pretty fast these days. In one month he grew a whole pound and an inch and a half. So now he weighs 17lbs 5oz and is 28.5 inches. Still small but he is healthy and happy. He now has eight teeth. Four on the bottom and four on the top. Watch out finger! Those teeth hurt. He has gotten me twice while nursing but not horrible bad. I get pretty nervous though. He will not take a bottom with formula in it. I dont blame him, it taste sick. I havent tried pumping and giving him one, too much work. So we just nurse once in the morning, afternoon, and night. He takes about two good naps a day. One in the morning for about two hours and another one in the late afternoon for about an hour or more. He goes to bed around 9. I would like him to have an earlier bed time but we wouldn't ever be about to go anywhere at night. So we are ok with him going to bed when we get home.

       Tate does great when there is a lot going on around him. He gets board easy if not and complains more. If there is lots going on he is distracted. If you want him to be a happy clam then u have to feed him constantly. He eats just about everything we do expect milk, peanut butter, and honey. He will eat just about anything u give him. He loves crackers, sweet things, and those squish pouches. They are too expensive to buy so i bought those refillable kinda and have been making my own stuff to put in them. Tate poops about once a day typically in the morning and its funny b/c he has a pooping position he gets in. He gets very quite ( and gets on all fours, sticks he but up in the air and goes. Funny boy. Or should i say stinky boy.

My little boy love to play with everything he isn't allow to play with. All the dangerous things like cord and plugs. He LOVES them. U put him in a room and thats the first thing he goest for. He likes glass things try to grab and play with them. He like to play with the floor fans, the stairs, my keys, loves balloons, and plastic stuff. He likes to hit his head on things, climb up on whatever he can. Somehow this boy find trouble no matter how hard i try to baby proof things. The other day he got into my purse and found an apple in it and started to bit into it. haha. He know when you say No and he knows what it means. He listens pretty good when you tell him no. He will stop to see if i am looking when he about to do something he knows he not suppose to.

   Some other fun fact about Tate would be he loves to talk and his very vocal and loud. we would die at church without a pacifier. kinda dreading the day when we have to say goodbye to it. I have to keep a close eye on him constantly. He likes to shake his head no and wave hi and bye. We are trying to teach him how to clap and say yes with his head but not yet. He likes to dance and copy what u are doing. So cute. HE rocks his body up and down when there is music. He love to throw and hit things. HE has a death grip when he grabs my hair. Tate likes to play in the bathroom. He likes playing with the toilet paper roll and hits the toilet paper so it starts to unroll down then he pulls the toilet paper apart and eats it. Haha he is such a boy! He like to try to climb into the tub. He stands there on the outside of it hitting and yelling. He really likes bath time. Still doesn't like to go under the water but doesn't cry now like he use to. Tate loves new toys and places. He is defiantly an explorer. He goes off in the house by himself. He doesn't cry when i leave the room or house, thank goodness. He doesn't cry in his car seat hardly at all, doesn't cry as much when he falls over. He would cry all the time if he felt like he was going to fall or did fall over. He is a very messy eater. I feel like he needs a bath every time i put him in this highchair. Well enough about Tate. I could go one for a long time.

    We are having a fun summer and we love having daddy around more now that the house his done. We went camping a couple weeks ago and that was fun. I will blog about that another time. My little brother comes home in two days and i cant wait for him to meet Tate. We are going to mammoth in a couple weeks with my family and it will be fun. later!!!!!

The House Part 2

Ok more before, during, and after pictures of the house!

The kitchen: (my favorite part b/c this is where I am going to spend most of my time)
We refinished the existing cabinets that were already there b/c they were in ok condition. We sanded them down head to toe and Norris bought a paint sprayer and sprayed all the cabinets and door by himself. My mom and I did most all the sanding. That was a pain in the butt! Way too much work. We changed the lighting in the kitchen, did granite countertops, put in a new sink, new windows, and we got stainless steal appliances. Norris also did some electrical work and changed out the outlet switches. My mom (with the help of me) did the backsplash.

The closes before picture we have:(

During

More during 

After! 

                                                          Another angle of the kitchen before

During

After

Another angle

Mom and Duran helping out! 

Up next is the outside bathrooms but I do not have the before picture yet b/c they are on Norris phone! I will have to update the before pic later. So the work that went into the bathrooms was a lot. We pretty much ripped out everything in the bathrooms except for the showers. We had custom vanities put in, refinished the showers, got new light fixtures, new toilettes, mirrors, medicine cabinets,  did granite countertops, and travertine tile. 

The Hall Bathroom:

Before kinda! 

During (we ripped everything out)

After:) much better

The refinished tub/shower. 

Now for the Master Bathroom:

The before!

During

More during

Almost there!

Done. The after pic:)

Different angle

Shower! 

Next....the bedrooms. There are three additional bedrooms beside the master, which I have already showed u. Here are just some photos. Not a ton of work went into these rooms but just the basics like new carpet, closet organizers with mirrors, windows, and paint.




Some before shots.


 Some after shots

 One more.....look at what a little paint does to a room.

 
 


The Garage:
Ok I guess a lot of work went into the garage too. Lots of electrical work, some framing, some insulation, lots of drywall and mudding, along with white paint. This was Norris' workshop for four months:) It looks so nice cleaned up!

Yes the baby made it in the picture this time.

The after, nice and clean. The ground looks all funny b/c we watered it down. 

These are my favorite before and after pictures beside the kitchen. 

It just shows how much work Norris did really!

This is a picture taken from the garage. Norris took out the wall and fixed some stuff.

Here is the wall patched up.

And here is the wall a finished. 

This is a picture of the garage on demo day. Let just say this pile of stuff got three times this size. 

Maybe even four time bigger! Dead serious! Dumb fees stink:(

Here is Marshall and Norris cleaning out the garage. 

Here is a picture of where the water heat was and Norris redid that whole area. 

Here is it all done! 

Ok I think I am going to make one more addition blog post about the yard transformation.