Are we tearing it down or building it back?

Old Kitchen Back Splash, but notice the new drywall
New accent wall in the Living Room
Lighter accent wall in Living Room
Can't wait to get this laundry room finished!

Tear it up!

Tearing it down to build it back again!!!

Dehumidifiers along with fans made quite a wind storm
Still can't figure out why it broke?
Goodbye to the sheetrock
Say goodbye to John's beautiful Marble entry!
Cutting out the sheetrock

"Mom! The Tank Just EXPLODED!!!!

Taylor's phone call was the last we thought we'd ever hear. He was the only one home when the fish tank decided to give way, under the two tons of pressure it held ,with three hundred gallons of water. We were all in shock and so sad. We all rushed home as quickly as possible. John was an hour and a half out. (Longest drive of his life! This tank was his baby!) Taylor was frantically trying to find and save corals, after placing what we thought were dead fish into a bucket. He took the corals to Petco for Refuge. Sam and JC rounded up shop vacs and went to work sucking gallons of water. Sam became very strong with the adrenaline rush, he was picking up huge furniture items to save them from the water. The girls and I got home ASAP and joined in the efforts. We were all in shock and now I wish I had taken more pictures of the kids and their reactions. I was totally amazed at the way they worked and helped!!! I of course was crying over the dead fish, etc and Taylor with great sympathy rushed them to Petco. He learned that there is such a thing as Fish CPR. He managed to save seven of our fish. They along with our corals have been placed in local tanks. A few hours into the disaster, Kathryn found "Jailbait" our black and white striped fish under her bed:-( I called the Ins and NW Restoration, and within an hour or two they were at the house tearing things up!!! They worked into the night and returned for six days, each day tearing out and removing more walls, cabinets, floors, and sheetrock, etc. Now the reconstruction begins!!! Thank goodness for Insurance and for John and his great talents and abilities. We will have an almost brand new house when we're finished. I've never seen John quite so sad! His countenance changed as soon as he got a new tank set up in the garage keeping his rocks alive. Our big Hermi crab survived and even on anemone!! Quite amazing!!!

las vacacciones invierno

kat and i are ready for cabo... what about you?!

new work

Sarah Schwab now works at Dr. Jourdan Nicholls Podiatry Office. She likes it very much. She has quit her job at Orange Julius. No more smoothies. But speaking for Sarah Schwab, I would like to inform all of you that she loves you oh so very such. The END.

Cabo

Were going to Cabo!!

gobble gobble gobble

happy thanksgiving weekend familia!

i realized that this was my very first thanksgiving where i didn't have any family around... but luckily i've still been able to spend the entire weekend with people who i really love and care about! i spent the weekend at aaron's parent's house with his siblings and their families... chrissy can attest to the fact that aaron's family can be quite entertaining when they all get together so i was definitely in good hands! here are just some fun pictures from the weekend that i wanted to share with you all! love and miss you and can't wait to see your faces next month! xoxo

my darling little emma face flew into town wednesday night for a friend's wedding this weekend so aaron and i picked her up and got to spend some time with her before heading off to his parent's house.

aaron and i before thanksgiving dinner... i have the cutest boyfriend ever!

probably the best picture of aaron i have ever taken.

aaron's cute neices playing in their pj's before we all went to bed that night.

even baby ty got into his cute pj's... he's getting so big! he can walk all over the place and talks in his own language all of the time! ahhh i'm so obsessed!

the next morning aaron and i actually woke up at like 3:45 am to run to wal-mart in hopes of snagging a good deal on a flat screen tv. the first store was already out of stock when we got their at 4:30 (even though the sale didn't start until 5!!!!) so we jetted over to one in downtown salt lake and ended up getting the 5th to the last one they had in stock after waiting in line forever! totally worth it though!

anyways, after aaron and i got back to his parent's house, we all went up to this cool privately owned forest place and cut down this christmas tree for aaron's parents. the boys couldn't even fit the tree on aaron's truck so we had to drag it the whoel way back. (and no, aaron doesn't always look so white trash.... hahaha)

this picture is too funny for so many reasons. yes, aaron and i both look realllyyyyy white trash after not sleeping all night and getting dressed for cutting down christmas trees. aaron's dad made me take this picture after he put his hat on my head so that my hair wouldn't look so poofy.... so considerate.

that night we went to temple square to see the light display (by the way, the light display really isn't worth seeing anymore... they cut back on the amount of lights by a lot, so i think this will be the last year we all go for awhile.) here is aaron's pretty sister, sara, and her baby boy!

this picture describes aaron's family perfectly... me, aaron and aaron's dad and sister being silly. this picture is just one of the many silly ones we took inside the conference center. all of us were laughing and being sooooooo loud in there, so i'm pretty sure all of the volunteers were happy when we decided to finally go back outside.

aaron and his beautiful mother! i tried to get aaron to make a normal face with his mom but to no avail...

aaron's dad and baby ty! hahahah i love his dad's face in this!

post pictures of all of your fun adventures! missed you guys this holiday!
xoxo

Hi everyone!

I made it to Korea and am loving it so far. Go to my blog at www.chrissyrenae.com for the fulllll update. I would lovve it if everyone updated the blog like once a week so that I can stalk all of you and keep updated on what's going on back home. Plus it will be a good habit to get into since Erik is leaving soon too and I'm sure will want to know what's up as well. I know everybody's busy, but a few updates with just whatever random stuff you're up to would be very much appreciated!!!

I miss you all already. Love!

missing summer

How precious is this picture???

where are you?

it's a little lonely up in here. i'm feeling a little disconnected. talk or come home, all.

OK.
There has been a little questioning about the cruise we are trying to put together for next year. Yes, we are definitely considering making this happen. It has and will take quite a bit of time on my part to make it all happen, so just be patient. So far it looks like all of our immediate family, along with Linda, Butch and some of Linda's friends that we have cruised with before are all up for it. The more the merrier. But remember, it takes a lot of planning to make it happen the way we all want it to.
So, with that in mind, I have a favor to ask all of you. Both family and non family. Please give us just a little of your time. Whether you agree or not, I would like you ALL to spend just a few minutes of uninterrupted time and watch just two of the General conference talks that were given a week ago. This isn't a trick just to get you to watch them. I just think that with all of the complexity of our family, these two talks are what we need to answer some questions that I hear so often about some of our family. It's not asking much of you. You don't have to agree with any of it, but please, at least give us this much. We don't ask very often from any of you, so please, just this once. If you care for any of our family, you will not want to mis this. Trust me on this.
The first is Elder Jeffrey R Holland, Sunday PM. Just click on this web page and when you see the conference line up, click on Sunday PM and look for Jeffrey R Holland. Please turn off your cell phones, computers and TVs. Please, just give us this attentive time. I will ask nothing of you in return. Here is the web page. Just highlight, copy and paste it to your browser. If it asks you to download the player, do so. It only takes a few seconds for the download.
http://www.lds.org/move/index.html?type=conference&event=Oct179&lang=english

After you have all seen this one, I have one more for you to see. After that, I will not question or bring it up again. This is only for you, not for me. I have already seen them.
The second one is from Sunday PM, Elder Dallin H Oaks. This one will answer all of your questions about our confused family relations, and will help all of us. Again, please give these two talks ALL of your attention and try not to cut it off. It is only a few minutes of your time and will help you understand so much of our family. And please send in your comments on this!!!!!!!
Love you.
Dad

"would I were steadfast as thou"

Bright Star

Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art---
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors---
No---yet still steadfast, still unchangeable,
Pillowed upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever---or else swoon in death.

-John Keats.


***Just watched Bright Star. I am romantically inspired...

i say a little prayer for you

forever, forever, you stay in my heart
and i will love you
forever, forever, we never will part.
oh, how i'll love you.
together, together, that's how it must be.
to live without you
will only be heartbreak for me.

gotta love me the sweet tunes of janis joplin.

the point of this post, however, is to show you all how incredibly lucky i am! i photographed this gorgeous praying mantis just a bit ago outside my house! i don't believe i have ever seen one in person before so it truly was an exciting event in my life. it was the easiest creature i have ever photographed because it stood completely still the entire time i was taking its picture. fantastic, yes?

So here goes my life....

I'm just gonna jump.
Okay so hears the down low for all of you who don't live at home....
hmmm where to start? Well I'll start with school. Its my junior year and the toughest so far for me. I have 2 AP classes: English and US History. And US history is tough to keep up with but so far i'm doing really good in all my classes. A's on all my assignments and i made it a goal to not SLACK off in school this year. AT all. I want to get into a good college (nto sure which one yet) and plus if i was doing bad in school, i wouldn't be happy. Thats just how it goes. Yesterday Damon Faichild called me (He quit his job at Realife photography and is starting his own business-Damon Fairchild Photography) and he needed my help shooting senior pictures for someone. So i went with him and got paid and so now i kinda have a job like that. Its a cool experience working with photography and i get to help him once or twice a week. Ever since i turned 16 i've been looking really hard for jobs and did a few applications. None of them have worked out, but my friend Emmily works at Orange Julius and her grandma is the manager so i might get a seasonal job there during the winter holidays and get paid lots. :) But its not for sure yet, she still has to talk to here gma. But yeah i hope i get it. I just hope it wont interfere with Christmas plans (which aren't decided until erik gets his mission call!!!). So recently i've been playing a lot of tennis after school. Like i have everyday. Hoping it will get me more fit. And better at tennis. Which i have improved and hope to until tennis season where i kick butt. haha just kiddin. And just a p.s. i'm totally going to save up for the cruise because i know i should help i'm going to be earning money. WHICH I WILL BE, hopefully. But it sounds like so much fun and i'm happy that all you guys are going (sorry erik). Now for personalizations:

Erik: I can't WAIIIITTTTT for thursday when you come here and get your mission call. I'm so excited. But i have mixed feelings because i am going to miss you more than you will know. But i know you'll be back and on a legit spiritual high. haha you'll be a great missionary. Loves.

Jacque: You basically live at home. haha.

Leesh: Sorry i suck at calling you back and i really have been wanting to talk to you. I love you and can't wait to see you when you come for erik's farewell. Tell aaron i say hi and i love him too! haha

Chrissy: Are you excited to go to KOREA! Ahh i'm so happy for you. Come say bye to us. I love you and i hope you have fun over there and are happy. I know you'll love it no matter where you go. haha You little traveller, you. haha

Ang, Ken, Christina: COME VISIT US! I love you!

And i love you all, again and again.
xoxo, sarah.

Hi all! It's been awhile since I've posted anything. I hope you all still visit the blog here. Mom and I are throwing around the idea of setting up a cruise for next Thanksgiving. Nov 2010. It is an 8 day leaving San Diego for Acapulco, Zihuatnejo and Manzanillo. Saturday through Sunday. These are ports that you haven't been to and are fun ports, plus it is way warm down there. Right now the cruise is only $439 on the Carnival Spirit, which is less than half of what we paid over three years ago. This is the first cruise mom and I went on. Great ship! The only catch is that with Erik going on a mission, Taylor may be too at that time, and with times as they are, we are asking for you all to save money and try and pay your way. It shouldn't be too hard to do. We will probably have to pay for all of our homies. You can bring anyone you want as long as they also take care of their own expenses. We really just want to have as many there as we can. We are also thinking of inviting any of the Phillips family, Ang and Christina and my Bro and sis, if you all think that would be ok. Let's hear it!!

More Crabbing!

Here's some pics I missed of Kat and Beth tubing on the raft! They were drenched, and it wasn't exactly hot that day. They hit the showers while dad and I put the boat on the trailer.

Crabbing!!!!!!

Kat and Beth from their camping spot

Going hiking

Dad's always fixing something

This is a small catch

Nothing like some Organized Chaos to Calm the nerves

Friday Harbor with record high temps 96+

Sarah and Lauren

So Yummy!!!!!

Beautiful Sunsets!!!!!!!!!!!!

How many people can say they've pet a deer?

Good Times!

Chillin on the bow of the boat

We love it out here!

We have been able to do lots of crabbing this summer! Dad's been working and making new improvements to the boat with each trip! We definately found a great place to catch the crab! They're HUGE!!!! and very YUMMY!!!!! Some of the kids have been lucky enough to bring a friend and join us. We've had great weather for camping on the islands. The San Juan's are very beautiful! Taylor is hoping to bring his SR buddies in a couple weeks. Enjoy the highlights!!!

Love you all!!!