::Projects - Before & Afters::

My mom and sister, Benita, came to visit this past week! I took FULL advantage of having my mamasita in town to help me with little (okay mostly big) projects I had on my wish list!! Here are a few:

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My kitchen table! I LOVE how it turned out!

The garage was just exposed drywall and needed to be painted. Alexa even joined in on the fun!

Our coffee table and end table for the family room. I forgot to take a before picture but they were light like my kitchen table used to be.

The handle on our front door and the kitchen faucet are an oiled bronze finish and so I had bought the same finish for the curtain rod in the kitchen to hang the chocolate brown curtains and decided to run with it...I found some oiled bronze spray paint which has become my new best friend! I absolutely LOVE how the hardware in my kitchen turned out with just a few coats of spray paint!!

And my silver clock didn't really go with my new decor so I took the spray paint can to it too!!

I can't even begin to tell you how much I love my "new" clock!!!

And while we're at it...why don't we paint my corner shelf too???

And as if my mom wasn't kept busy enough while she was here...let's have her help Kevin lay sod too! I would have loved to have been out there helping but it just so happened that me and the girls were down with the stomach flu! Yuck! Kevin wasn't feeling that great either but managed to push through!

Thanks Mom for all your help! We could never have accomplished all the things we did without you here. What a fun, busy week we had! Aren't you looking forward to your next visit when you can actually relax??? :-)

~And she's WALKING!!!~

We knew it wouldn't be long before this happened! She's been attempting a few steps here and there and just really wants to walk holding your hand...but then all of a sudden this afternoon, she just took off. I guess she realized she could do it and now she doesn't want to stop!

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Way to go Payton!!

[Getting Organized]

So here's a sneak peak at what we've gotten accomplished so far...The girls' playroom. Eventually, I'd like more shelving and bins to get it much more organized than you see, but that'll come! In the meantime, it's SOOOO nice having a separate space for all their toys!

The downstairs powder room. Not much going on here. It's actually quite spacious, across from the toilet, there's still quite a bit of room so one day I'll put in some more storage in there. Maybe a cute cabinet to hold all the extra toilet paper and cleaning supplies or something!

This is Payton's room. Not a lot going on in here...so far just the curtains! And thanks to Gramma Jenny for Payton's birthday present (the curtains), I think they turned out cute. We haven't even set up Payton's crib yet as we need to get a twin bed for Alexa before we can put the crib/toddler mattress back in the crib since we were borrowing one from a friend in Louisville and had to give it back. So once we can get Alexa's twin bed, then poor Miss Payton will get her bed back too!! And then maybe I'll be motivated enough to put up pictures and shelves in her room!

The upstairs guest bathroom. It's also the girls' bathroom and Alexa LOVES that there's two sinks, one for her and one for Payton!

And Alexa's room. We painted it pink (thanks Mom!!!) on top, the cute wainscoting was already there. Hopefully soon we'll be able to get her a twin bed and I want to paint the pink letters in her name white so they stand out more.

That's about it so far. I've got more pics of the fun projects we've been doing so stay tuned!!

.::Move-IN Day::.

It's OFFICIAL....we're homeowners!!!

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We have our keys and we've moved in! Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures of the actual move INTO the house...kinda like how I forgot to take pictures of the move OUT of our apartment in Louisville. I've been a lil' preoccupied lately!!! :-) But here we are just before we headed over to our new house yesterday.

The last couple days have been difficult...to say the least. Travelling across the country with two little ones, dealing with a 3 hour time change, not being in our own element or having our own things around, not having daddy around...all these things have taken their toll! I really couldn't be a single parent! But we're all back together now and we're in our new house. We've got a lot of unpacking and organizing to do...but at least we can get back to some sort of routine and schedule!

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Oh and by the way...I LOVE my house!! :-)

More pictures to come of the fun little things we've been up to!

.:Moving Days & Goodbyes:.

I say Moving Days in the plural form because we packed up the truck on Monday and actually started the move out West on Tuesday. It was quite the process. But we're so grateful for wonderful friends who helped us out. We had several guys come help load our truck up, my fabulous friend and neighbor watched my girls all day and then fed us dinner that night. Kevin's parents were a constant support in loading and cleaning our apartment. It was a long busy day...but one that will hold memories forever!

For many weeks now, every time I would think about moving and having to say goodbye, I'd get emotional. We've made some really great friends in the 5 years we've been in Louisville and it's hard to say goodbye. Becky, I'm so sooooo glad your sweet little family moved into the apartment below us. We have loved getting to know you guys. I can't even begin to tell you how wonderful it was having such a great friend live so close by and having our kids be such good friends. We miss you soooo much already! Thank you again for all your help, especially the last few weeks while I was getting ready to move. I really couldn't have done it without you!

After all the packing was done, my dear friends, Waveney, Brinn and Sarah came and stole me away for a treat to say goodbye. It wasn't easy. But it was so nice to sit and visit and reminisce about good times. You ladies are wonderful!

Here's Kevin and his dad in the wee hours of the morning on Tuesday. I flew back to Arizona with my girls and my mother-in-law while Kevin and his dad made the trek driving our huge moving truck with one car in tow and driving the other car. I'm glad it was him and not me!!

It was pouring rain that morning so this is the best picture we could get of the two of us before we said goodbye to our home for the last five years! Louisville...you've treated us well, thank you for all the good times!

~~Graduation Day~~

The Graduate!

His #1 Fan!!

Our biggest supporters!!!

Marial and I waiting for the ceremony to start.

I know these pictures are blurry...not sure what happened with my camera...but I had to include them anyways. It's not every day that you walk across the stage to graduate from dental school AND have two of your brothers hood you. So, I apologize for the horrible pictures but they're meant for my own journal-keeping purposes!

Introducing....Dr. Kevin Mortenson!!!

ULSD Graduating Class of 2010

I didn't realize until after taking the above picture that Kevin was hiding behind the class banner! :-) And Alexa was so excited for her daddy...she didn't want to be away from him a second longer!

Kevin and Alexa with our friends, Ron & Julie Lee. They've been wonderful friends and a great support to us while here in Louisville. We're really going to miss them!

Dr. Mortenson with his biggest fans!

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We're so proud of you...it's been a LONG four years but you did it and we're looking forward to what the next chapter brings!

Drs. David, Kevin and Darron Mortenson

It's kinda cool that they're brothers! :-)

The Mortenson boys...we just need Duane to complete the picture!

What an exciting day for Dale & Marial...to see all their kids finally done with school, well almost anyways (David still has a couple months left of his Endodontic Residency).

A HUGE shout out and thank you to Kevin's parents! They have been an amazing support to us throughout Kevin's schooling...in many, many ways! We could not have done it without them! Thank you, thank you, thank you! We love and appreciate all you have done for us!

Another family shot...I just can't even get over that we're finally done! Yay!!!

And here's the man who started it all, Uncle Wayne. Who's to say if Kevin or his brothers, or any of their cousins would have gone to dental school if Wayne hadn't...but he started a legacy nonetheless! Thanks Uncle Wayne!

And here is one of my biggest supports throughout dental school, my lovely friend Brinn. Her husband Michael graduated today too. We moved into the Louisville 1st Ward on the same day and have been friends ever since. She has been an amazing friend and I am truly grateful that dental school brought us together. She's the kind of friend that you know you will always be friends with. Good luck to you Brinn and Michael in your new adventures in New Mexico...we're just RIGHT next door in Arizona so we hope to see you again soon!!

Unfortunately, we didn't get more pictures with friends or classmates. It was a cold, windy day AND practically bedtime for our girls, so they had HAD it and we had to leave early on into the picture-taking and celebrating. But we'll hold our memories dear!

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HAPPY GRADUATION!

WE DID IT!

Family Tradition

If you're from Louisville and you happen to know any of the Mortensons, then you know that dentistry kind of runs in the family! Kevin's Uncle Wayne attended ULSD back in the 70's and stayed in Louisville to practice.

Since then...just a few more Mortenson men have joined the ranks!

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(L to R: David, Wayne, Kevin, Will (Wayne's son-in-law), Brent, Matt, Mark, Darron and Jeff)

*Missing is Todd

And here are our 3 from Kevin's family! What an exciting day!

..::Family Graduation Dinner::..

'Twas the Night before Graduation, and all through the house...people were getting ready for a yummy dinner at Varanese!!! :-) As you know from previous posts, this is our FAVORITE restaurant here in Louisville...so we knew it's where we wanted Kevin's Graduation Dinner with his family to be.

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Here we are all dressed up for a night on the town!

Kevin's parents arrived on Wednesday, his brother Darron and his wife Ann, arrived yesterday and Kevin's brother David, arrived just today. Darron and David both graduated from the University of Louisville School of Dentistry as well and so they came out to participate in Kevin's graduation ceremony by "hooding" Kevin. We are so grateful and appreciative to them for their willingness to come share in our big day!

Getting ready to enjoy our meal!

Group Shot!! We sure hope everyone else enjoyed their food as much as Kevin and I did...we're going to miss this place and will make sure to stop in whenever we make it back to Louisville!!

Then we topped off the evening with ice cream at Graeter's...what a wonderful way to end our celebrations! We need to look into if Graeter's ships to Arizona!! :-)

Happy almost Graduation babe...one more sleep and we're there! I'm soooo proud of you!

Playing with Friends

When our little neighbor Jonny moved out of the apartment right below us, this sweet little Aida moved in. She's just a few months older than Alexa but she goes to daycare every day so we haven't had much chance to play with her...until today. The three of them were having a ball outside and I can't believe I got them all to smile at the camera at the same time!

{Friends}

Alexa & Nathan

These two....oh these two!! Today was our last hurrah with little man Nathan! We've had a tradition of going to the McDonald's Playplace with him for quite some time now and they're headed out of town tomorrow...to Arizona of all places, for our last week here in Louisville. :-( So this is the last time for Alexa and Natey to play prior to us moving. Thankfully though, his mama is from Arizona and they still have ties in Arizona so we'll hopefully see them again soon! These two have been friends for what seems like forever...Nathan's mama brought me dinner when Alexa was born, that's the first time we met, and we started hanging out shortly after since our babies were only a few months apart in age. And now we have babies only 3 months apart too...we're sure gonna miss you Rachael, Nathan and Sammy!!